Prep basketball: Tars in the Sea View mix

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - The Newport Harbor High boys basketball team won 42

games the last two seasons, but couldn’t manage a Sea View League title.

And while Coach Larry Hirst’s Sailors have begun the 2000-01 campaign

14-3 and came into the week ranked No. 7 in Orange County, chances are

they won’t be collecting their first league crown since earning a

co-championship in 1990.

The Tars, in fact, would appear to have all they can handle trying to

secure one of the five-school circuit’s three guaranteed playoff berths.

Woodbridge (12-4), ranked No. 6 in the county heading into this week,

is the odds-on choice to emerge at the top of the standings, but Aliso

Niguel (10-7) and Laguna Hills (12-5) appear strong enough to warrant

consideration, as well.

Irvine (9-8) appears to be a notch below the rest of the field.

“I just think so many teams are so close, it’s going to come down to

defense and execution every night,” Hirst said.

The Sailors have shown well in both areas, but are not blessed with

enough talent to let anything slide and still expect success.

The Tars, however, are hardly lean in the talent department, with

senior guard Aaron Yarnal and junior center Tony Melum topping the

marquee.

Yarnal, in his third varsity season and coming off first-team All-Sea

View recognition last year, is averaging 13.8 points. He posted a

season-high 26 in Friday’s win over Estancia and vowed to try to maintain

his offensive aggressiveness the rest of the way.

Melum, a 6-foot-6 post, averages 18.5 points and around 11 rebounds

per contest, the latter enough to rank among the county leaders. His

debut varsity season was hampered last year by a broken arm.

Junior point guard Greg Perrine (9.2 ppg), senior Steven Young and

junior Erik Peterson round out the starting five and will have to take

turns making teams pay for focusing defensive attention on the Big Two.

Frontcourt reserves Jamie Diefenbach, a 6-7 freshman, and Nadim

Pajevic, a 6-8 sophomore, should also contribute more as they develop.

Newport’s losses have come to ranked opponents El Toro (twice) and

Capistrano Valley. The Sailors bring a six-game winning streak into

Wednesday’s league tipoff at Irvine.

The Tars close out the first week of league Friday against visiting

Laguna Hills, before traveling to Woodbridge Jan 17.

The Newport Harbor girls team lost all eight Sea View contests a year

ago and will be hard-pressed to find any victims this season.

Irvine (12-4), Woodbridge (15-0), Laguna Hills (11-6) and Aliso Niguel

(13-2) are all well ahead of Sailors Coach Glenn Albios’ developing

program, which enters tonight’s opener at Woodbridge with a 2-13 record.