Battle of the Bay hoops is set
Finding the right date for the Battle of the Bay boys’ basketball rivalry game can be troublesome at times. Schedule it at the beginning of the season, or during league play is the question both programs face.
Corona del Mar High and Newport Harbor settled for Jan. 17, at CdM at 7 p.m. By the time the game tips off, the archrivals will be three games into their respective league schedules. This can be an issue for Newport Harbor Coach Bob Torribio.
“It’s tough to find time to play [the Battle of the Bay],” Torribio said last month. “The kids love it. The kids love playing that game. From a coaching perspective, it’s a little rough, but the boys work hard, they deserve to play Corona del Mar. Obviously, you’d much rather have Corona del Mar in our [Sunset League], but nobody listens to me.
“The last couple of years we’ve had to switch to this type of schedule because our schedules just don’t match up. Coach [Ryan] Schachter runs his great [CdM Beach Bash] tournament over there [in early December]. We usually take [the second] week [in December] off. It’s just really hard to find a time in December to play each other. And then January is tough. They’re traveling. We’re traveling. During league is the easiest time to schedule it. It’s not the best time from a coaching perspective, but the kids love it.”
Torribio understands what the Battle of the Bay means to the players, the students, the schools and the communities involved. He made sure to put CdM back on the schedule when he permanently took over the Sailors 6 1/2 months before the 2012-13 season. The previous two seasons the Battle of the Bay never happened.
The Sailors and Sea Kings are facing each other for the third straight season. The series has been one-sided since Schachter arrived at CdM in 2006-07. Under Schachter, the Sea Kings are 6-0 against Newport Harbor.
The Sea Kings won last season’s game at Newport Harbor, 76-50, giving them their largest margin of victory in the rivalry with Schachter at the helm.
The Sea Kings have a deeper team this season, with the likes of Kevin Fults, Bo St. Geme, Sam Kobrine and Ryan Stone, and they’re poised to extend their winning streak against the Sailors to seven. The last program in the rivalry to rip off seven straight wins was Newport Harbor, from 1997-98 to 2003-04.
CdM holds a 43-28 edge in the series.
The Sailors look to upset CdM in the 72nd meeting between the Back Bay schools. Garrett Davis, Charlie Stassel, Joey Faris and Collin Pipkin lead Newport Harbor.
Newport Harbor will be CdM’s fourth game against a Sunset League opponent. The Sea Kings defeated Edison, 59-54, in the third-place game of the Beach Bash on Dec. 13, and they lost to Los Alamitos, 55-47, in the semifinals of the Charlie Wilkins Memorial Tournament at Westminster High on Dec. 19.
The Sea Kings go up against the Chargers again on Wednesday in a nonleague contest at Edison at 7:30 p.m. The game is part of the Sunset League-Pacific Coast League Challenge.
{{Newport Harbor (7-9) played at Beckman (7-8) on Tuesday.}}
“I’d like to be [in the Sunset League],” said Schachter, whose team has won or shared the Pacific Coast League title five times in the past eight seasons. “We play Sunset League teams. I think it’s a great fit for us basketball-wise. Then we’d get to play [Newport Harbor] twice [a season]. That would be great.”