Newport Harbor upsets Capistrano Valley, advances to Grizzly Invitational boys’ basketball semifinals

Reporting from Irvine —  The Newport Harbor High boys’ basketball team had its hands full Thursday night as it faced defending CIF Southern Section Division 2A champion Capistrano Valley in the quarterfinals of the Grizzly Invitational.

The Sailors were up for the challenge.

Newport Harbor stunned defending tournament champion Capistrano Valley 51-50 at Irvine High.

With the win over the No. 3-ranked team in Orange County, Coach Bob Torribio has the Sailors off to their first 3-0 start since the 2012-13 season.

Newport Harbor is making its first trip to the semifinals of the Grizzly Invitational. The Sailors face Laguna Beach (3-0) at Godinez High on Friday at 6:15 p.m., and the winner moves on to Saturday’s championship game.

The Breakers edged El Toro 55-54 in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

“We love this team and [we have] a great group of kids,” Torribio said. “We didn’t play a whole lot of guys tonight, but this was definitely a team win. We have 12 guys that go very hard in practice. We can’t play all 12 guys in games, but tonight the six or seven guys that stepped on the floor were ready to play because it is a fun team to be a part of.”

Newport Harbor won the game particularly on the defensive side of the ball by drawing charges, hustling for loose balls, and trying its best to limit Capistrano Valley senior Dawson Baker. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 21.6 points per game last year.

Dayne Chalmers drew the assignment against Baker, who led Capistrano Valley with 18 points.

“Chalmers last year as a sophomore guarded a lot of very good players, and tonight he took the challenge of guarding one of the better players in the county and he did a great job,” Torribio said. “When you play that hard and you are so athletic, good things are going to happen for you defensively, and tonight he [slowed] down [Baker]. The other four guys were aware of the game plan on the floor and all knew we had to slow him down to win.”

Chalmers also produced on the offensive end. The junior finished with 13 points, while Sam Barela led the Sailors with 15 points.

Both teams could not find any separation in the first half as the Sailors led by three at the end of the first quarter and by only one at halftime.

Newport Harbor finally began to pull away in the fourth quarter. The Sailors went on a 10-5 run and earned the largest lead of the night at seven with 1:14 remaining.

But the Sailors struggled to put the Cougars away.

A foul-ridden fourth quarter had both teams going to the line. A Capistrano Valley free throw and a mid-range shot by Baker cut the deficit to four, but Newport Harbor managed to regain the seven-point lead on free throws.

Capistrano Valley (2-1) made its next field goal with 7.2 seconds remaining, and it was able to draw an offensive foul on the Sailors on the inbounds play to get possession and cut the lead to 50-47 with just 4.4 seconds to go.

The Sailors successfully inbounded the ball to Chalmers, who would immediately be fouled and sent to the free-throw line. Chalmers missed his first attempt, but he would sink his second, making it a four-point advantage.

Baker was able to move up the court in the waning seconds, and he drained a three-pointer. But the three points weren’t enough for Capistrano Valley to avoid the upset.

“Every little thing you do wrong is going to be exposed against a team like [Capistrano Valley], but what we tried to do tonight was take care of the ball and get a shot every time down,” Torribio said. “There were times when we didn’t take the best shot, but we didn’t turn it over and we gave ourselves a chance by getting a shot off.”

*

Newport Harbor 51, Capistrano Valley 50

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Capistrano Valley 11 – 15 – 10 – 14 — 50

Newport Harbor 14 – 13– 9 – 15 — 51

CV – Baker 18, Ramsey 12, Lipovic 7, Beeman 6, White 3, Gleason 2, Draper 2.

3-pt. goals – Ramsey 3, Baker 1, White 1.

Fouled out – Draper.

Technicals – None.

NH – Barela 15, Chalmers 13, Swies 7, Siegel 6, Spooner 6, Bashore 4.

3-pt. goals – Barela 3, Spooner 2, Swies 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

JUAN CARLOS GONZALEZ is a contributor to Times Community News: Follow him on Twitter: @JGonzalezSports