Yardley Cage Classic set to tip off today

The boys basketball teams from Corona del Mar, Estancia and Newport

Harbor high schools are among the 20-team field at the Yardley Cage

Classic, which opens today and continues through Sunday at Newport

Harbor High.

The event, named for Newport Harbor graduate George Yardley, a

member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, features a

Newport-Mesa tripleheader today.

CdM meets El Toro at 11 a.m. in the main gymnasium, where Newport

Harbor faces Laguna Beach at 12:30 p.m. and Estancia clashes with

Elsinore at 2.

If Estancia and Newport win, they would play again at 6:30 p.m.

and 8 p.m., respectively, also in the main gym.

If CdM wins this morning, it would return to action Saturday at

12:30 p.m. in the main gym. Should Coach Ryan Curry’s Sea Kings fall

in the opening round, they would begin consolation-bracket play

tonight at 6.

If Estancia falls to Elsinore, it would play next on Saturday at

10:30 a.m. in the auxiliary gym.

Should Newport Harbor not get past Laguna Beach, it would play

tonight at 7:30 in the auxiliary gym.

Coach Larry Hirst’s Sailors are operating short-handed, having

lost would-be returners Brett and Todd Lowenthal to transfer and

having senior-to-be Andre Pinesett decide to play only baseball.

In addition, Hirst said 6-foot-8 Jamie Diefenbach, who will be a

senior next fall, has been slowed in his recovery from the torn ACL

that cost him his entire junior basketball season. Diefenbach

returned to earn All-Newport-Mesa honors in volleyball last spring,

but is still not 100%, Hirst said.

Brett Perrine, a 6-4 returner who will be a junior, is also

recovering from a torn ACL sustained late in the 2003 Sea View League

season. He is not expected to play until later in the summer at the

earliest, Hirst said.

Estancia has also lost two players expected to return. Jordan

Stroman, who averaged 6.5 points as a part-time junior starter last

season, has moved to Utah, Eagles Coach Chris Sorce said.

Tyler Hoffman, a sharpshooting guard who averaged 4.3 points off

the bench last season, has transferred to Fountain Valley High for

his senior year, Sorce said.

The Eagles are led by junior-to-be Carlos Pinto, a two-year

varsity starter who averaged a team-best 13.9 ppg last season.

Curry said his Sea Kings are 6-1, including the championship of

their own eight-team tournament, heading into today. CdM is being led

by returning starters Pancho Seaborn and Jay Northridge, both of whom

will be seniors, as well as senior-to-be Adam Freede.

Mater Dei and Chaparral of Temucula are the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds,

respectively, in the tournament. The championship game is scheduled

Sunday at 6:30 p.m. in the main gym.