Younger is enough

BY TONY LEE

CORONA DEL MAR — The age-old sports debate (pun intended) came into action Saturday at the 21st annual Jack Errion Memorial Alumni Basketball Tournament.

Who wins a basketball game — the young and athletic or the veteran and wise?

The debate, at least when it’s an alumni basketball tournament at the Corona del Mar High gym, favors the class of 2004-05 team, who won the game, 33-21, against the mixed classes of the 1970s and ’80s.

“It’s fun every year,” said Brett Hirata (2005). “[I’ve] always been so close to winning it and never got it until now.”

Hirata, the only class of ’05 player on the team, was especially excited to play in the tournament because he missed out playing with the ’04 class when he was in high school.

“Junior year when I played with them, I injured my collarbone,” he said. “I actually got to play with these guys this time, which was good.”

Geoff Probst led the mixed classes of the ’70s and ’80s, which reached the final of the alumni tournament for the third straight year.

But Probst’s team only made it to the final because he hit a game-winning shot in the semifinals as time ran out.

“It’s one of my favorite shots,” Probst said. “Going to left and pulling up because I can get it off quick. It’s just something I’ve done since I’ve been playing basketball.”

In the championship game, however, the age and fatigue caught up to the team of veterans.

At one point in the first half, Hirata’s team shot five three-pointers during one possession because teammates Kevin Welch, Tyler Lance and Hirata all got offensive rebounds.

“Well we have zero height and our two biggest guys are 50,” said Probst, who scored four points in the final. “The young kids got a lot of rebounds. We were cramping up. My hamstrings were cramped up, my shins were cramped.”

But Probst wasn’t the only one who thought his team was undersized.

“Actually when I was going into the tournament, I was getting kind of scared,” said Hirata, who scored a game-high nine points. “Kevin Welch and Tyler Lance were huge for us and Pancho [Ceabora] getting all the rebounds. We were outsized on every team pretty much. We just had to dig in.”

Welch scored eight points, Lance scored four, Ceabora scored six, and teammates Adam Freede and Jay Northridge added with four and three points, respectively.

Even though the class of ’04-05 won the tournament, everybody involved in the alumni game seemed to have fun.

“It’s a great event,” Probst said. “It helps raise money for the program — especially the way the economy is. Coach [Ryan] Schachter does a great job here and got the program back up. They won CIF two years ago and another good team is coming this year.”