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Boys’ Basketball: Sailors stand in third in Sunset

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Bob Torribio caught up with his former basketball coach, Bob Serven, at Newport Harbor High on Wednesday. He played for Serven 22 years ago, in Serven’s last season at the helm of the Sailors.

These days Serven is an assistant at Fountain Valley, where his son, Matt, is a sophomore guard. Before Torribio faced his former coach in a key Sunset League game, he learned through Serven that his sixth-grade son was involved in an overtime game earlier in the day.

The Sailors prevented Serven’s other son, Matt, from playing in overtime. The Barons, trailing by three points in the final 25 seconds, had a chance to tie the game, but Newport Harbor swarmed Matt, who had produced four three-point plays, forcing him to pass the ball to a teammate who missed an off-balance shot near the baseline with nine seconds left.

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Garrett Davis grabbed the defensive rebound, and Joey Faris sealed the Sailors’ 43-39 win by knocking down the first of two free throws. The first round in league play concluded and Newport Harbor is all alone in third place.

“It was a huge one for us,” Torribio said. “We had [that] great win over Marina, a great win over Huntington Beach, and another big win tonight. Sitting [in third place in] a very tough league we’re real happy with ourselves, especially after all of our ups and downs.”

In the first go-around in league, the Sailors (10-13, 3-2 in league) have shown they can beat the three worst teams in the league. Against the top two teams, Edison and Los Alamitos, that’s a different story.

Los Alamitos (18-1, 4-1) is the opponent the Sailors tip-off the second half of league with on Friday at 7 p.m. The Sailors travel to Los Alamitos knowing they are only one game back of the Griffins, who fell out of first place by losing at Edison, 55-54, ending their 14-game winning streak in league.

“We’re trying not to think about that right now,” Torribio said of being one game out of second place. “We’ll think about Los Al tomorrow. We’ll enjoy this one tonight.”

Faris led the Sailors with 13 points, four steals and two blocks, while Charlie Stassel came off the bench and sparked the team with eight points in the fourth quarter.

Stassel produced all of his points in the final eight minutes, including the first basket in the fourth. The jumper helped Stassel’s confidence and that of his team, which went into the final quarter down, 33-28, and its leading scorer with nine points at the time, Nate Harding, one foul away from fouling out.

Newport Harbor erased the deficit by going on a 10-0 run in the first 4 1/2 minutes. Stassel hit two key threes during the surge, one from the left corner and one from the right corner.

The Barons, who trailed, 38-33, called a timeout with 3:29 left. The move didn’t help much, as Fountain Valley began the fourth missing its first nine shots. It wasn’t until Matt Serven ended the drought by hitting a three with 1:36 to go. Serven, who finished with 14 points, had the Barons still in it, only behind, 40-37.

Faris answered for the Sailors with 1:16 left. He drove in for two points, making it a two-possession game. A traveling call on Fountain Valley’s Ryan Fusco gave the ball back to Newport Harbor 15 seconds later.

Unable to close out the game at the free-throw line, the Sailors gave the Barons life. Shea Sueda cut the lead to 42-39 on a layup at the 27-second mark, and the Sailors once again missed the front end of a one-and-one situation, giving the Barons (7-15, 1-4) a chance to tie the game.

Harding, who had four fouls, and the Sailors didn’t let Serven take a shot from behind the arc. Serven gave up the ball to Fusco, who dribbled to his left and misfired, allowing Davis to grab his 10th rebound.

In his first meeting against his old coach, Torribio was glad not to see Bob Serven’s son shoot another three.

“The kid [was] banging all kinds of shots and giving us a hard time [after the first quarter],” Torribio said of Matt, who made four of nine shots in the final three quarters.

“[Bob Serven has] been at Santa Margarita, Mater Dei, a lot of those big-time schools [as an assistant in the past], and now he’s at Fountain Valley, so it’s fun to see him.”

Sunset League

Newport Harbor 43, Fountain Valley 39

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Fountain 6 – 16 – 11 – 6 — 39

Newport 11 – 9 – 8 – 15 — 43

FV – Serven 14, Hoang 10, Fusco 6, S. Sueda 5, Philhower 2, Garrett 2.

3-pt. goals – Serven 3.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

NH – Faris 13, Harding 9, Stassel 8, G. Davis 8, C. Davis 5.

3-pt. goals – Stassel 2, C. Davis 1, Faris 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

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