Sailors put on first-half lesson for Vaqueros

Steve Virgen

To get their third straight Sea View League win, the Newport

Harbor High Sailors completed one of their better first-half

performances of this boys basketball season.

The Sailors (11-7, 3-0) shot 20 of 23 from the field (87%) in the

first half and built a 46-26 lead. Newport’s advantage proved to be

insurmountable for the Vaqueros (3-14, 0-3) and the Sailors coasted

to a 79-55 victory Friday night at Irvine.

“Offensively, it has to be (one of our best first-half

performances),” Newport Coach Larry Hirst said. “I think a lot of

that has to do with the nature of the game. Obviously, their game

plan was to press and trap and try to get as many opportunities that

way. But if you do that you’re probably going to give up some

transition baskets, and I think we just capitalized on those

transition baskets. It wasn’t like we were bombing from three-point

land.”

The Sailors’ first half appeared to be without error. They

committed just three turnovers. They hit their first five shots from

the field, including a three-pointer by 6-foot-8 senior center Nedim

Pajevic, who was perfect in the half. He shot 6 for 6 from the field

and scored 13 points. Newport junior Brett Lowenthal also reached

perfection in the first half, as he shot 4 of 4, scoring nine points.

Lowenthal finished with 14 points again, matching his season-high

he achieved in a 69-65 win over Aliso Niguel Wednesday. He hit his

first six shots and finished 6 of 8 from the field, and 3 for 3 from

the foul line. Senior Nick Glassic came off the bench and scored a

season-high 11 points. Every Newport player who competed Friday night

scored at least one point.

“In the whole game, but in the first half especially, we were

really unselfish,” Hirst said. “We just threw the extra pass so many

times. We came in at halftime and we were telling them we thought

they passed too much.”

Pajevic, who scored a game-high 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting,

grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists. He did not play

the fourth quarter.

“He’s had two years to pass to a lot of people,” Hirst said of

Pajevic, who had a nice passing touch. “He got to pass the ball a lot

outside to either Aaron Yarnal or Greg Perrine, or inside to Tony

Melum. This year our focus has really been to get him the ball. When

that’s your focus most of the time, you forget how good of a passer

he is. He sees the floor well. When he makes good decisions it’s like

having a 6-8 guard out there.”

Pajevic led the Sailors to gain its big lead with his passing and

scoring in the first half. The Vaqueros hung with Newport in the

game’s first five minutes, trailing, 13-12, but the Sailors went on

an 8-2 run to close out the first period.

Then, the Sailors opened the second quarter with an 11-0 blitz

that featured three assists by Pajevic, who found his teammates in

transition. Lowenthal capped the 11-0 run with a drive to the basket,

while being fouled. He converted the three-point play to put Newport

up, 34-14.

The Sailors scored 23 points in each of the first two quarters and

they closed out each period with buzzer-beaters. Lowenthal hit a

mid-range jumper with two seconds left in the first quarter and

Pajevic put in a finger-roll layup with two seconds remaining before

halftime.

Hirst said he was impressed with the Sailors’ defensive pressure.

“We did a good job of defending their scorers,” Hirst said. “We

didn’t allow their scorers to get off early and I think that just

carried over.”

Newport maintained its lead in the second half, setting up its

half-court offense and usually letting the shot-clock run down to 10

before looking for a shot. Andre Pinesett, Newport’s burly 6-0

junior, recorded two steals and scored four of his eight points in

the third quarter.

Newport’s fans erupted in cheers when Blake Hanley scored his

first point of the season, hitting the front end of a one-and-one

free-throw opportunity with 1:16 left in the game.