CdM, Tars try to stay alive

At this time of year, with the Oscars coming up, film is as crucial to actors, directors and screenwriters as it is to high school basketball coaches in the playoffs.

Well, coaches just want a moving picture. Forget the plot, dialogue, sound, or special effects. Just a look at who their team is going to face in the next round.

Corona del Mar High’s Ryan Schachter thought he had that when a lower-level coach on Friday filmed Elsinore of Wildomar, the Sea Kings’ opponent in the CIF Southern Section Division III-A quarterfinals.

But what the first-year Sea Kings’ coach saw from Elsinore advancing out of a 52-39 second-round victory at Laguna Beach was nothing.

“The camera was messed up,” Schachter said. “It kept saying disc error.”

Schachter turned to what most other coaches would: borrowing film.

With an opponent like Elsinore 56 miles away, Schachter has relied on other colleagues’ help to prepare for tonight’s 7:30 game.

So has Newport Harbor Coach Larry Hirst, whose Sailors (16-11) play host to fifth-seeded Santa Barbara (24-3) in a Division I-A second-round game tonight at 7:30.

“With the playoffs, it’s always kind of a feeling-out process,” Hirst said. “You get one film really to look at and then you get about six or seven coaches opinions. It’s almost like a tournament setting. You get to see them for a little bit, but you really don’t know what’s going on until after the first quarter.”

Despite not receiving the latest footage on his opponent, Schachter said his No. 4-seeded Sea Kings (19-7) have zeroed in on the Tigers (15-13).

Over the weekend, Schachter said he got his hands on film of Elsinore’s 68-59 opening-round victory at Rowland. The source was the coach he thought he’d be coaching against tonight in Laguna Beach’s Bret Fleming.

Schachter’s not sure if CdM will see the same man-to-man coverage that Fleming said Elsinore threw at his No. 5-seeded Breakers. Probably not, with 6-foot-9 center Stefan Kaluz and 6-7 forward John Joyce crowding the paint.

In the Sea Kings’ 70-52 second-round win at home Friday, Palm Springs collapsed on the big men. But they were still effective, with Kaluz recording 25 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks and Joyce posting 12 points and 11 rebounds, to lead CdM to its first quarterfinal since the 1999-2000 season.

Even though Schachter said after the game that Elsinore might be the biggest team CdM’s faced all year, Elsinore’s tallest player, 6-8 center Jon Waber, has played only nine games this year.

“They like to trap a lot and they’re not nearly as effective when he’s in there,” Schachter said. “It’s pick your poison, because a lot of teams don’t have the height that we have.”

Two Elsinore players Schachter said are dangerous from the outside are 6-3 senior guards Scotty Buck and Randan Horton, who are averaging 16.4 and 14.8 points, respectively.

The difference in the game could come down to CdM’s starting guards, with Austin Evett, Eddie Lane and Joe Eberhard. Schachter expects them to receive plenty of open looks.

“This team is for real, just look at the league it comes from and the Sunbelt has three teams still alive,” said Schachter, referring to No. 6 Perris and No. 9 West Valley of Hemet, which finished one-two in league ahead of fourth-place Elsinore. “If we win this one, we get to pick the [alternate] site where we play in the semifinals because both Serrano and West Valley would’ve played two home games.

Nothing like being close to home in the postseason, especially after a huge win.

Newport Harbor returns home after winning a first-round thriller at Damien, 43-41. Center Kyle Caldwell’s 17-foot jumper with 1.9 seconds left upset the No. 12-seeded Spartans (23-6).

The Sailors are playing host to a playoff game for the second time. The first was a 56-40 win over Poly of Riverside in a wild-card game.

This one will prove much more difficult, so much so that Hirst said he needed as much footage of Santa Barbara as possible.

He said he has four games on the Dons, winners of the Channel League and 12 of their last 13 games. What he has seen is a lot of 6-3 sophomore guard Roberto Nelson slash and score easily.

Nelson is averaging 22 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists and two steals per game for the fifth-ranked program in the final CIF Division I-A poll.

“I can’t tell you where I got the film. I can get some people in trouble,” said Hirst, who has guided the Sailors to the second round for the third year in a row. “The guy who gave me the stuff wants [Santa Barbara] to lose bad. This time of year you ask everybody for help, their sister, their brother, anybody to gain an advantage.

“I’ve been around [coaching] for 25 years and it’s a crazy time. You’re breaking down film, looking for things that will help your team win.”