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.
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