Dynasty talks can now begin

Why stop at three?

The way Jesse Obrand sees it, his team at the Laguna Beach High alumni basketball tournament isn’t losing any time soon.

All good sports dynasties feature at least a bit of swagger, and alumni basketball tournaments are tailor-made for trash talk.

Obrand provided both after his squad, consisting of alumni from 1998-2000, easily won the championship for the third straight year Saturday afternoon by topping the 2008-09 team, 51-25, at Laguna Beach High.

“I’m not really satisfied with the three-peat,” said Obrand, a ’99 grad who played for UC Irvine in 2002, with a twinkle in his eye. “I actually want to go for seven straight [titles]. I’m 28 now, and I’ll be 32 by then, and I think by that point we can still reel off another four championships. Three is great, it looks great on paper, but I’m looking for seven.

“[Michael] Jordan got six, Kobe [Bryant] has got four, and I’m looking at seven. And then I’ll stop taking this tournament so seriously. Each year, I put it on my calendar. I train for it, make sure I’m healthy.”

The consensus around the gym is that the team can get it done; they’ve already won every year the tournament has been in existence. Obrand scored 10 points in the championship game, surrounded by a starting five of Chris Sirianni (class of ‘98), B.J. Jameson (‘98), Kurt Beimfohr (‘99) and Travis Hanour (2000).

They blitzed the youngsters in the championship game, cruising to a 17-4 lead after seven straight points by Jameson, who played professionally in Germany for two years.

Beimfohr, who played at Colgate, scored a team-high 11 points. Hanour has the most big-game experience as he played at Arizona and San Diego State, and he came down from his home in Oregon to help the team defend its alumni title.

“We’re fighting Father Time pretty much, more than anything,” said Beimfohr. “But of the ‘old guys,’ we have the most guys who kept playing.”

Also contributing to the three-peat were Nick Reynolds (‘98), Sean Donnelly, Morgan Reynolds, Justin Ives and Chase Satrappe (all ‘99). The 1999 team won the Pacific Coast League title.

The recent grads, led by 2009 Orange Coast League co-MVPs and recent graduates Ryan Lawler and Dylan Roley, did well to get to the final. They also featured point guard Marcus Hairston, Kevin Buck and Jason House (all ‘08), as well as Cody Duplisea and Christian Kessler (both ‘09). These players helped form a foundation of the Breakers, who are also three-time defending champions “” in the Orange Coast League.

The youngsters topped a 1991-93 alumni team in the semifinals, and that squad was powered by players like Victoria Skimboards general manager Trigg Garner, as well as Josh Borella and Brad Berberian. The 1998-2000 team topped a squad from 2001-05 in the other semifinal, featuring players like Austin Sands (‘04), Trevor Lyle (‘02), Shawn Ridet (‘02) and Jason “2 Shakes” Boyd (‘02).

Coach Bret Fleming has expanded the tournament as well, with more teams and sponsors to raise money for the basketball program. Players received jerseys, and there was a raffle for prizes like Lakers tickets. Whoever won that raffle can go see Bryant, who still has one more title than Obrand and crew. But it might not be that way for long.

“They’ve got to remember that they keep getting older every year,” Fleming said. “[But] I’d put my money on them for at least the next couple of years.”