Caldwell’s game-winner seals Sailors’ upset

LA VERNE — Kyle Caldwell knew that, standing 6-foot-8, he’d be able to see the hoop.

So, with the ball in his hands and 6-foot-7 senior Weston Dunlap being heavily defended, Caldwell did the natural thing.

Falling to his right, the Sailors junior shot it, then turned and let his teammates mob him.

Caldwell’s 17-foot jumper with 1.9 seconds left in the game lifted Newport Harbor to a 43-41 upset win at No. 12-seeded Damien in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs on Friday night.

“Because we felt we had a height advantage, we wanted one of those two kids to take it,” Sailors Coach Larry Hirst said. “To Damien’s credit, they were triple-teaming Weston, so Kyle smartly shot the ball.”

Dunlap came up big a play later, stealing the ball at mid-court to end both the game and any last-second dreams of the host Spartans.

Newport Harbor (16-9) moves on to the second round for the third straight year, the previous two in Division II-AA.

The Sailors will play host to No. 5-seeded Santa Barbara on Tuesday in the second round. Santa Barbara defeated visiting Hawthorne, 54-51.

Advancing to the second round almost didn’t happen, after a third quarter where the Sailors committed seven turnovers, missed four free throws and scored just two points. They trailed, 33-25, heading to the fourth.

That negated a very solid first half that saw Newport Harbor, behind 12 points and 11 rebounds from Dunlap, take a 23-21 lead at intermission.

“We’ve always been known for not coming out fast,” said Dunlap, who finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds. “I was really trying to get the game started for us, get us a good start.”

But Newport Harbor kept battling in the final quarter. A three-pointer by senior guard Chad Stassel cut the Damien lead to 34-30, with 6:20 to go.

“When you start sagging in on our big guys, a guard will step up and hit a big shot,” Hirst said. “Our guards seem to just pick their moments where they can take advantage of that.”

After the Spartans (23-6), the Sierra League champions, extended it back to five, Caldwell hit a big three-pointer to cut the deficit to 38-36 with 3:27 left.

“We had our heads down for a little bit, knowing that they’re a good team and it’s at their place,” said Caldwell, who had a game-high 15 points and added 10 rebounds. “But we managed to make a few key plays on offense and defense to get us back into the game.”

Stassel’s acrobatic layup tied the score at 38-38, and Dunlap and Damien’s Tony McClendon both hit free throws to keep it knotted.

After a Damien turnover, the Sailors’ Matt Helfrich made a twisting layup with 55 seconds left to give Newport its first lead since early in the third quarter.

Damien added two free throws with 36 seconds left, tying the score again and setting up Caldwell’s heroics.

Hirst said he felt fortunate to escape La Verne with a victory.

“That’s a very good Damien team,” he said. “A team that’s 23-5, you always wonder how good their league is, and they’re in a very good league. That really had us nervous, but we feel like we had to go with our bread and butter all year, our bigs.”

And the bigs, in turn, let their game match their height.

CIF Southern Section

Division I-A Playoffs

First Round

Newport Harbor 43,

Damien 41

Score by Quarters

Newport 11 12 2 18 — 43

Damien 14 7 12 8 — 41

Newport Harbor -- Caldwell 15, Dunlap 13, Stassel 8, Helfrich 3, Nigro 2, Holmes 2.

3-pt. goals -- Stassel 2, Caldwell 1.

Fouled out -- None.

Damien -- Napolitano 12, Ramme 9, Riley 6, McClendon 5, Hacker 4, Tapia 3, Yates 2.

3-pt. goals -- Napolitano 3, Ramme 1.

Fouled out -- None.