Wilber Leads Brea to Victory

When the game is close and the talent levels about the same, desire often makes all the difference.

Just ask Brea Olinda guard Ryan Wilber. The senior noticed how flat he and his teammates were for much of the seesaw first half of their second-round boys’ basketball playoff game Tuesday against Newport Harbor.

Then Wilber went into action, opening the Wildcats’ second-half scoring with a three-pointer. Before the third quarter was over, he added a spinning layup, another three-pointer, a baseline jumper and a reverse layup as Brea seized the lead for good.

Wilber finished with 16 of his team-high 22 points in the second half to lead the Wildcats to a 76-68 Southern Section Division II-AA victory at Brea.

“I felt like I needed to light a fire and get the momentum going our way,” Wilber said.

Guards Ryan Moore and Landon Lewis added 19 points apiece for the Wildcats (22-6), who advanced to meet second-seeded Temecula Chaparral in a quarterfinal game Friday in Temecula.

“We feel like we can beat them,” said second-year Brea Coach Bob Terry, who took his Wildcats to the quarterfinals last season before losing to Cerritos Gahr. “We want a chance to play in the Pond.”

Newport Harbor (18-9), a young team with two sophomores and a junior in its starting lineup, fell behind by 13 points midway through the fourth quarter but put up a fight until the final minute.

Junior guard Aaron Yarnal converted a four-point play with 2:47 left to bring the Sailors within six, at 68-62. Yarnal made a three-pointer on the play and drew a foul on Brea’s Shawn Blattenberger.

Yarnal, who finished with 22 points, had a chance to cut the lead to three points on Newport Harbor’s next possession, but his three-pointer bounced off the rim. Brea made eight of 11 free throws the rest of the way to clinch the victory.

“They just hit some bigger shots than we did, and we dug ourselves too deep of a hole in the third quarter,” Sailor Coach Larry Hirst said. “It’s tough to come back in the playoffs against a well-coached team.”

Sophomore center Tony Melum finished with a game-high 24 points for Newport Harbor and forward Dustin Illingworth had 15.