Boys basketball: Yardley Cage Classic tips off

Barry Faulkner

March may indeed have its madness, but Newport Harbor High boys

basketball coach Larry Hirst is doing his best to concoct something of a

jamboree in July, in the form of the annual George Yardley Summer Cage

Classic, today through Sunday at various locations.

This is the tourneament’s second year bearing the name of the Sailor

program’s most renowned basketball alumnus, a 1946 Harbor graduate who

went on to star at Stanford and a couple NBA teams, en route to induction

into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. This year’s event,

known until 2001 as the Surf City Classic, includes an unprecedented 44

teams, 93 games, and, invariably, some early answers to questions

coaches, players and fans have begun formulating about the 2002-03 season

that tips off in December.

In addition to Newport Harbor, which hosts action all three days in

its main and auxiliary gymnasiums, local participants include Corona del

Mar and Estancia.

Other tournament sites include Estancia High, Vanguard University,

Ensign Intermediate and Orange High.

Play begins at 10 a.m. today and continues with evening games

scheduled as late as 8 p.m.

Games begin as early as 10 a.m. and as late as 6:30 p.m. Saturday with

Sunday’s action continuing from 10 a.m. to the 7:30 championship game at

Newport Harbor’s main gym.

Newport Harbor has fared well in its own tournament, which also

includes perennially strong Mater Dei, La Canada, Mayfair, El Toro, and

Santa Clara, as well as rising newcomer Northwood, led by former Estancia

and Orange Coast head man Tim O’Brien.

The Tars finished third last season, falling to eventual champion

Villa Park in a closely contested semifinal. Villa Park, which has

eliminated the Sailors from the CIF Southern Section Playoffs each of the

last two seasons, is not in this years event. Coach Kevin Reynolds’

Spartans defeated Mater Dei in last year’s title game.

Newport Harbor last won the event in 1998, when it avenged a

title-game defeat suffered the previous year against La Costa Canyon from

San Diego County.

Newport, CdM and Estancia are all in the same eight-team quadrant in

the expansive bracket.

The Sailors, including returning starters Nedim Pajevic, Jamie

Diefenbach and Chase Cameron, open today at 10:30 a.m., hosting Tesoro in

the main gym.

Second-year coach Ryan Curry’s Sea Kings, who feature notable

returners Kevin Mancillas, Brett Matsen, Pancho Seaborn and Jay

Northridge, open at 10 a.m. today in the Newport auxiliary gym against a

St. Monica. St. Monica is coached by former CdM standout Chris Quinn, in

his second year at the Vikings’ helm.

Estancia hosts Calabasas today at 10 a.m.

Should Newport and CdM earn first-round victories, the Back Bay rivals

would square off in the second round at 3 p.m. in the Sailors’ main gym.

Should Estancia, under third-year coach Chris Sorce, win its opener,

then get past the Trabuco Hills-La Canada winner, the Eagles could face

either Newport or CdM in Saturday’s noon quarterfinal clash at the

Sailors’ main gym.

The semifinals are scheduled Sunday. The Newport side of the bracket

will play its semifinal at noon at Harbor’s main gym, while the other

side of the bracket, including Mater Dei, will play its semifinal at 10

a.m. Sunday at Vanguard.

The consolation title game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday at Newport’s

main gym.

Hirst said the 6-foot-8 Pajevic, who came on strong at the end of his

junior season to help secure a Sea View League championship, the

program’s first outright league crown since 1985, is already attracting

plenty of interest from college recruiters.

In addition to Cameron, who will be a senior, Hirst said he will count

on junior-to-be Andre Pinesett to step up and fill a backcourt void left

by 2002 Sea View League MVP Greg Perrine, who has moved on to play at

Chapman University.

The Tars will also be replacing the strong scoring presence of 6-6

two-time All-CIF standout Tony Melum, now at Colorado School of Mines.

CdM, which this time last year was in the initial stages of learning

Curry’s system, has gotten off to a strong summer start, Curry said.

“We’re much more on the same page,” Curry said. “Last week was

basically my one-year anniversary, so these kids have had a chance to go

through a whole year with me.”

Estancia, paced by returners Joey Lindquist, Zack Novak, Erik Andersen

and Carlos Pinto, has been bolstered by the arrival of a pair of

transfers.

Jordan Stroman, removed from the Costa Mesa varsity last season as a

sophomore for disciplinary reasons, has landed at Estancia, where a

talented Mater Dei transfer Sorce refused to name, has also impressed

with his athletic ability.

Sorce also said Lewis Bradshaw, the football team’s returning

quarterback who became a solid front-court performer last season as a

junior, had not made the commitment necessary to continue in the program.

Admission is $2 at all sites.