Boys basketball: Aliso is ‘Dustin’ the wind

Joseph Boo

NEWPORT BEACH - That Dustin Illingworth is pretty darn good.

The 6-foot-4 senior center for Newport Harbor High’s boys basketball team

took what Aliso Niguel gave him on Friday, which was pretty much the

game.

He collected 24 points and catapulted the Sailors to a 60-50 triumph in

their last Sea View League game, breaking a two-game losing streak and

finishing second in league.

Fifteen of Illingworth’s point came in the all-important second half. On

a related note, Newport (17-8, 6-2 in league) shook off a pesky Aliso

Niguel team after a 27-23 halftime lead and led by as many as 15 points

in the fourth quarter.

“We wanted to give our other shooters shots,” Newport Harbor Coach Larry

Hirst said. “But that wasn’t happening. At halftime, we decided to go to

Dustin until they stopped him.”

Illingworth had nine points in the first half, as Newport held a slim

27-23 lead. Newport sophomore Tony Melum scored six key points in the

second quarter as the Sailors just kept Aliso Niguel at bay.

The third quarter was where Illingworth, as the team program eloquently

puts it, showed more moves than Casanova in a sorority house. He scored

on the drive, from the post, off a soaring alley-oop tip-in from an Aaron

Yarnal pass, and especially from the free throw line.

The helpless Wolverines (12-13, 3-5) could do nothing more then hack him.

He got five of his 11 third quarter points from the charity stripe. For

the game, he was 10 for 13 on free throws.

“It was way too close at halftime,” Illingworth said. “We wanted to

capitalize on what they were giving us. And I just got caught up in the

energy.”

Excluding Illingworth, who was 2 for 3 from the field in the first half,

the Sailors were 7 for 6 at halftime. But free throws cured any shooting

woes for the Tars. For the game, they had a 27-12 margin in attempts from

the stripe, hitting 20 of them.

Aliso Niguel did not help its cause with two technical fouls in the third

quarter. Yarnal got three of his five points on technical free throws.

His fifth point came when he rebounded his one missed technical free

throw and put the ball back in for a 43-31 Newport lead late in the third

quarter.Melum was the only other Newport player in double digits, scoring

12 off the bench. Newport’s Greg Perrine contributed eight points and

four assists, including one alley-oop feed for an Illingworth dunk at the

start of the fourth quarter that put an exclamation point on the whole

game.

“It was senior night,” Illingworth said. “I wanted to go out with a bang

and put on a show for all the parents who showed up.”

The show continues next week in the CIF Southern Section Division II

playoffs, where Newport will enter as the second-place team from the Sea

View League. The Sailors had a chance to grab a share of the league title

if Irvine upset Woodbridge, but the Warriors won big, 75-40.

“We never thought about that,” Hirst said. “We made our own beds with the

Laguna Hills loss, and we have to sleep in it.”

Nevertheless, the Sailors broke a two-game losing streak and put on a

good show for the fans, and hopefully, the CIF, which will seed the teams

Sunday.

“We wanted to end the season on a high note,” Hirst said. “This is not

the end of the year. We still haven’t got to the end of the chapter.”

SEA VIEW LEAGUE

Newport Harbor 60, Aliso Niguel 50

Score by Quarters

Aliso Niguel 12 11 11 16 - 50 Newport Harbor 13 14 17 16 - 60

Aliso Niguel - Zanolli 13, Chambers 13, Hefty 8, Ross 4, Sieves 3, Lamela

5, Alconcel 0, Ebel 0, Garcia 2, Wagstaff 2, Hanson 0, Rodriguez 0.

3-pt. goals - Lamela 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - Coach 1, Zanolli 1.

Newport Harbor - Illingworth 24, Perrine 8, Reynolds 6, Yarnal 5, Rorden

5, Melum 12, Knutti 0, Martin 0, Spigner 0, Murray 0, Redoutey 0, Ready

0, Staudenmann 0.

3-pt. goals - Perrine 1, Rorden 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.