SEA VIEW LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Newport Harbor Gets Even

Memories of a collapse past were finally blotted from the minds of the Newport Harbor basketball team. But exercising them was certainly difficult.

The Sailors had to survive a fourth-quarter rally by Tustin before taking a 55-49 Sea View League victory Wednesday at Tustin. Paig Parish made two free throws and Craig DeBusk one in the final 30 seconds to clinch the victory.

Newport Harbor remained tied for first place with Corona del Mar. The victory was the fifth in a row for the Sailors, who lost their first two league games. One of those losses was to Tustin, 65-58.

In that game, Newport Harbor took a 18-4 lead before folding in the fourth quarter. Those thoughts were on the mind of Coach Bob Serven before the game and even more so in the fourth quarter.

The Sailors (16-6, 5-2 in league play) again got off to a fast start Wednesday. They led, 17-4, late in the first quarter and 51-35 with 3 minutes 31 seconds left when the Tillers made their move.

“We had managed to get the previous Tustin game out of our system,” Serven said. “But couldn’t think about it tonight.”

Tustin (17-5, 4-3) outscored Newport Harbor, 14-1, and and trailed only 52-49 with 52 seconds left. The Sailors added to their own problems by missing three consecutive one-and-one free throws attempts.

However, Tustin could get no closer despite the fact that Newport hard missed five more free throws.

“I don’t what the problem is and I don’t really want to dwell on it,” Serven said. “We’re a good free-throw shooting team and we shot a lot of them the last two days in practice. Maybe we shouldn’t shoot free throws in practice any more.”

For more than three quarters, the Sailors played solid basketball, especially on defense. They held the Tillers to three field goals in the first half--all by Tran--and led, 27-13, at halftime.

Tustin seemed confused on offense, as Newport Harbor extended its zone defense to prevent Tran and David Beilstein from shooting from the outside.

Tran, who is shooting 77% on three-point field goals, was six of 15 from the field for the game. Beilstein, who is averaging 18.4 points per game, missed his first six shots and finished was three of 12 from the field for the game.

“We worked very hard in practice at keeping those two from getting good shots,” Serven said. “We couldn’t let those two beat us.”

Eddie Martinez scored 14 points and Ian Long 13 to lead Newport Harbor.

In other league games:

Corona del Mar 41, Saddleback 38--Warren Johnson, who scored 14 points, made a three-point field goal to give Corona del Mar (14-8, 5-2) a 36-34 lead and the Sea Kings hung on to win at Saddleback. Bryan Torry and Jimmy Galbert scored 12 points for Saddleback (14-10, 3-4).

Estancia 82, University 69--Estancia made nine of 10 free throws to pull away for the victory at University. Mike has scored 19 points and Matt Fuerbringer 17 for the Eagles (13-8, 4-3). Klaus Perwas led University (5-15, 0-7) with 20 points.