Boys basketball: Tars cruise past Oilers

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - Newport Harbor High boys basketball coach Larry

Hirst said his Sailors looked good in spurts Tuesday night.

But all the Tars needed was one 24-2 first-half run, that lasted

nearly eight minutes, to build an insurmountable lead and defeat

nonleague visitor Huntington Beach, 65-52.

It was the sixth straight season-opening win for the Sailors, who,

after mounting a 34-13 edge at the end of the aforementioned blitz,

maintained around a 20-point bulge, until the Oilers ended on a 12-5 run

to tighten the final score.

“I think, like most coaches, I’m just glad to get that first one out

of the way,” Hirst said. “There were times when we looked like we

actually practice and work on fundamentals, and other times when we

looked like this was our first game.”

Senior All-CIF Southern Section returner Tony Melum appeared fully at

ease, amassing a game-high 25 points and 14 rebounds.

Senior returning starter Eric Peterson also appeared well-versed,

netting all three first-half field-goal attempts, including a

three-pointer, en route to 12 points. He also collected six rebounds.

Peterson’s three-pointer, with 6:06 left in the first half, started a

13-0 surge, after Huntington’s Thomas Ngo ended an 11-0 Sailor outburst

with an 18-footer.

Melum followed up Peterson’s long-range strike by connecting inside,

then from the foul line, and Nedim Pajevic and Chad Rorden capped the

24-2 spurt with three-pointers.

Rorden, a 6-1 junior who came off the bench to produce a team-high

five assists, as well as Peterson, nailed second-half three-pointers to

help give the Sailors eight on the night.

Melum and Ross Fortier also connected from beyond the arc in the final

period to help Harbor overcome some defensive lapses.

“I thought we gave up too many of the wrong kinds of baskets -- layups

and offensive rebounds,” Hirst said.

Pajevic finished with 10 points before fouling out, while starter

Chase Cameron, a 6-0 junior returner, scored all five of his points in

the first quarter. Cameron netted his first two field-goal attempts to

help the Tars convert 6 of 8 from the field, en route to a 17-11 edge

through eight minutes.

Jamie Diefenbach, a 6-8 sophomore returner, came off the bench to add

three blocks, two rebounds and two points, while sophomore Mater Dei

transfer Andre Pinesett, starting for injured senior Greg Perrine (torn

ACL), chipped in three assists and two boards in his Harbor varsity

debut.

Hirst, in his seventh season at the Sailors’ helm, also took issue

with some needless fouls, which put Pajevic and Pinesett in foul trouble

and eventually cost Pajevic the final 4:56, when he was picked up his

fifth.

“We committed too many ticky-tack fouls,” Hirst said. “We were

reaching and going over the back. We decided to leave some guys in with

foul trouble, because I thought it would be a good lesson for them to

learn.”

The Sailors shot nearly 61% before intermission (14 of 23), but missed

13 of 17 third-quarter shots and hit 13 of 34 in the second half to

finish at 47.3% for the game.

The Oilers, who committed 13 turnovers to the Tars’ nine, were paced

by junior Brett VanVoorhis (12 points), while Nick Selberg and Brian

Harrison also got into double figures with 10 points apiece.

The Sailors return to action Thursday when they host Back Bay rival

Corona del Mar, which will open the Ryan Curry coaching era at 7 p.m.

NONLEAGUE

Newport Harbor 65, Huntington Beach 52

Score by Quarters

Huntington Beach 11 7 10 24 - 52

Newport Harbor 17 19 10 19 - 65

Huntington Beach - VanVoorhis 12, Selberg 10, Harrison 10, McLaughlin

7, Wood 4, Ngo 4, Yoshida 3, Nitollama 2.

3-pt. goals - Harrison 1, Yoshida 1.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.

Newport Harbor - Melum 25, Peterson 12, Pajevic 10, Rorden 6, Cameron

5, Fortier 3, Diefenbach 2, Louvier 2, Pinesett 0, Melgar 0, Glassic 0,

Tully 0.

3-pt. goals - Peterson 2, Rorden 2, Melum 1, Pajevic 1, Cameron 1,

Fortier 1.

Fouled out - Pajevic.

Technicals - none.