Boys basketball: Tars seize Sea View crown

Barry Faulkner

IRVINE - When it has been 12 years since the last Sea View League

championship and that drought had been seasoned by four straight

runner-up finishes, it’s probably OK to dance and hug on the floor before

the final buzzer.

At least no one seemed to mind Wednesday night, when the Newport

Harbor High boys basketball players began cavorting in celebration of

their commanding 54-40 triumph over host Woodbridge, the two-time

defending league champion which had claimed four of the previous six

crowns.

It’s Newport Harbor’s first outright championship since 1985.

“This one is special for me, because it’s my first league title ever,”

said seventh-year Newport Harbor Coach Larry Hirst, whose Sailors

executed his game plan well enough to bury the Warriors.

“This has been a long time coming. And we did it on their floor,”

added Hirst, whose stoic sideline expression turned to a smile as the

final seconds clicked off the Sailors’ regular season.

“(The Warriors) have everything you’d want in a basketball team. They

are big, quick, they have shooters and they’re well coached. We just

executed our game plan.”

The Sailors (19-6, 7-1 in league), ranked No. 6 in Orange County and

No. 9 in CIF Southern Section Division II-AA, had plenty of basketball

team to go with their well-constructed schemes. The most notable

performance came from 6-foot-6 senior All-CIF veteran Tony Melum.

Melum, who was a part of Harbor’s last two second-place showings, made

8 of 11 first-half field goal attempts to single-handedly outscore the

Woodbridge starters, 17-11, before intermission.

He added nine second-half points, including hitting 7 of 8 foul shots,

to finish with game highs of 26 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked

shots. He also added three assists and three steals, playing 32 minutes

and thoroughly impressing his coach.

“When Tony puts his mind to it and exerts himself on both ends of the

floor, he can do things like he did tonight,” Hirst said.

Melum hit Newport’s first two buckets as they earned a 9-4 lead.

Woodbridge (16-9, 5-2 in league), which started three senior reserves

on senior night, rallied for a 10-9 lead, after senior point guard

Patrick Haddan and 6-10 sophomore center David Burgess joined the mix.

But Harbor scored the last four points of the quarter on a Melum layup

and an Erik Peterson layup assisted by Melum to take a 13-10 lead into

the second period.

Peterson, among three senior returning Sailor starters, dropped in two

free throws to open the second-quarter scoring -- continuing a trend that

saw the Tars net 17 of 18 from the stripe -- and the hosts would never

see the lead again.

Newport drilled seven of its first nine field-goal tries in the second

quarter, which included a 13-0 run over a near-three-minute span, to take

the home crowd out of it and force the Warriors into catch-up mode.

Woodbridge, which took the Sailors to overtime in a dramatic 55-54

Harbor win their first meeting this season, Jan. 18, went on an 8-3 run

to end the first half. The hosts also scored the first six points of the

third period to close within 33-28.

But a Chase Cameron layup and two Melum free throws helped kick start

an 8-2 run to up Harbor’s lead to 41-30 by quarter’s end.

“I think the big thing was, when they made their run during the third

quarter, we answered back,” said Hirst, who called three timeouts early

in the fourth period to make sure his offense worked for good shots.

After Haddan, who had missed the last six league games with a badly

sprained ankle, sank a 15-foot jumper with 1:41 left in the third, the

Warriors went without a field goal until Haddan’s three-pointer with 2:01

left in the game cut Harbor’s lead to 46-35.

Newport helped frustrate the hosts by constantly switching defenses

and the result was a woeful shooting night for the Warriors (14 of 51

from the field for 27.5%).

“They’re so structured, we tried to mix our defenses as much as

possible,” Hirst said. “We didn’t know if it would confuse them, but we

wanted to make them use more clock. We didn’t want to get into a

run-and-gun game with them, because of their shooters.”

Newport senior point guard Greg Perrine had 11 points, eight rebounds

and four assists, while Peterson finished with nine points.

Juniors Nedim Pajevic and Chase Cameron added four points apiece for

the winners, who have the rest of the week off before preparing for the

CIF playoffs, which begin next week.

Harbor shot nearly 54% in the first half (14 of 26), before settling

down and finishing 18 of 45 (40%) for the game.

“Along with wanting to execute our game plan, another theme we used

preparing was that this wasn’t our last regular-season game, but our

first playoff game,” Hirst said.

Woodbridge Coach John Halagan said Newport is a deserving champion.

“(The Sailors) played very well,” Halagan said. “I wish we would have

gotten the game they played the other night against Laguna Hills (a 49-45

Hawk upset Friday at Newport). But I told our kids that was their C game.

We knew we’d see their A game tonight and that’s what it was.

“There was a lot of the emotion in the gym tonight, with senior night,

and trying to work Haddan back into the mix,” Halagan added. “But the

biggest bear we wrestled with tonight was Newport Harbor.”

Haddan and Cole Edmondson led Woodbridge with 10 points apiece, while

Burgess had eight points and 11 rebounds.

BOYS

SEA VIEW LEAGUE

Newport Harbor 54, Woodbridge 40

Score by Quarters

Newport Harbor 13 20 8 13 - 54

Woodbridge 10 12 8 10 - 40

Newport Harbor - Melum 26, Peterson 9, Pajevic 4, Perrine 11, Cameron

4, Diefenbach 0, Pinesett 0.

3-pt. goals - Perrine 1.

Fouled out - Pajevic.

Technicals - none.

Woodbridge - Haddan 10, Edmondson 10, Burgess 8, Bolding 5, Barlow 5,

Nicholl 2.

3-pt. goals - Haddan 1, Barlow 1.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.