Peñaloza: Hooping it up with former Sailors

Earlier in the week, I ran into Newport Harbor graduates Cole Norris, Keaton Cablay and Liam Ogburn at the gym. I usually would talk to Norris and Cablay after a football game, Norris was the star quarterback and Cablay a standout wide receiver and linebacker, or Ogburn after a baseball game, Ogburn was a workhorse on the mound.

Of all places, the four us wound up catching up on a basketball court, the one at the 24 Hour Fitness in Costa Mesa.

The three said they’re all doing well, they’re just on break from their freshmen year in college, Norris is attending Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and Cablay and Ogburn are both at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

We actually joined forces in a four-on-four pick-up basketball game. Out of the four of us, only Norris played varsity basketball.

We actually performed pretty well against a more talented team, which featured a 6-foot-6 player. We lost, 13-11. The other team eventually figured out that I always drove to the left, and I was either going to take a left-handed hook or floater.

Even though we were unable to play another game together, it was good seeing Norris, Cablay and Ogburn, three of the nicest and smartest players I’ve had the pleasure of covering in the area.

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•The first contests in the Battle for the Bell rivalry in boys’ basketball and boys’ soccer take place Friday.

Costa Mesa plays host to Estancia in basketball at 7 p.m., the same in soccer, but the soccer match is at Jim Scott Stadium at 5 p.m.

Last season, the Castellano brothers, Xavier and Robert, helped Estancia claim the rivalry in both sports. Xavier is in his second season as the basketball coach and Robert is in his seventh leading the soccer program.

Both Castellanos have their teams performing better than last season.

The Estancia basketball team is 9-9 overall and it has already matched last season’s win total, while the soccer team is 7-2-3, allowing only 10 goals.

The basketball and soccer coaches at Costa Mesa, Phil Weber and Chris Sullivan, are in their debut seasons in charge of their respective programs. Both of their teams won their Orange Coast League openers this week.

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•There have been only two boys’ basketball teams at Newport Harbor that have won 24 games in a season, in 1984-85 and in 1998-99.

The current Sailors are nine wins away from reaching that feat. Newport Harbor improved to 15-3 with a 61-51 win in a Sunset League opener at Fountain Valley on Friday.

Reaching 24 wins will be tough for Newport Harbor, it has 10 games left in the regular season. Nine of those contests are in league play.

If the Sailors qualify for the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs and make a little run, they have a chance to become the third team to produce 24 victories. Time will tell if Coach Bob Torribio can join Jerry DeBusk and Larry Hirst as the only coaches to lead the Sailors to that many wins.

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•The 73rd boys’ basketball meeting between archrivals Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor went down to the wire, with the Sea Kings pulling off a dramatic 51-48 comeback win at Newport Harbor on Tuesday.

Sam Kobrine hit a game-winning three-pointer with seven seconds left, resulting in the closest Battle of the Bay contest since Newport Harbor held off the visiting Sea Kings, 59-56, on Dec. 6, 2003.

The Sea Kings hold a 45-28 edge in the series against the Sailors.

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•The CdM boys’ soccer team is off to an impressive 9-1-1 start, the Sea Kings’ best since the 2009-10 season. That season, George Larsen’s first at the helm of CdM, the Sea Kings went on to a historic season, finishing 27-1-1 and winning a CIF Southern Section Division 4 title and a CIF Southern California Regional Division II title.

Blake Munger and Will O’Connor lead CdM with five goals apiece, while Leo Alves has five assists and two goals.

Goalkeepers Koen Ebbinga and Christopher Bartolic have combined to hold opponents scoreless seven times.