Sailors, Sea Kings collide in hoops Battle of the Bay

Three crucial high school boys’ basketball games in a four-day span for Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar.

No wonder Coach Larry Hirst informed his Sailors at the beginning of the week to “get ready for a long week.”

It will end tonight for both the Sailors and Sea Kings when they meet in the Battle of the Bay game at Newport Harbor.

Each of the program’s first two games this week were for league purposes. Tonight at 7, Newport Harbor (11-7) and CdM (12-5) are playing for neighborhood bragging rights.

The Sea Kings come into the game winners of five of their last six games, whereas the Sailors have dropped three of their last four. Both feature a 6-foot-9 senior center, CdM Stefan Kaluz and Newport Harbor Kyle Caldwell.

The teams revolve their offenses around the big men, who average around a double-double per game. But CdM has an arsenal of weapons with forwards Joe Eberhard and Adam Brakeville and guards Sean Donovan, Erik Rask and Clayton Ragsdale, making it troublesome to defend the defending CIF Southern Section Division III-A champion.

Expect this game to be close, as it was last year, when CdM won, 53-46.

— By David Carrillo Peñaloza