Newport snaps skid
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HUNTINGTON BEACH — Throughout Tuesday night, Marina High chased, poked, trapped, nagged and tried to knock down its best shot against Newport Harbor.
The three-pointers didn’t always go in for the program dubbing itself “Three-Point Nation” after taking ownership of the national record for most three-pointers in a season last week.
But Marina continued to hoist three-pointers after constantly winning the rebound and loose-ball battles.
That’s until Newport Harbor’s towering duo of 6-foot-8 center Kyle Caldwell and 6-7 forward Weston Dunlap rose up.
Caldwell and Dunlap decided to start doing the knocking around on the court, lifting and waving their elbows frantically after rebounds to clear out a bunch of 5-8 guards.
The Vikings kept coming, but Caldwell and Dunlap shoved them aside in the second half en route to leading the Sailors to a 72-60 win and sole possession of second place in the Sunset League.
Caldwell finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds and Dunlap added 19 points and 17 rebounds, as Newport Harbor snapped a four-game losing streak.
“I just let the referees call the game,” Caldwell said. “If they’re not going to call me hitting them, then I’ll keep doing what I do.”
What Caldwell did was look like the Caldwell before he injured his right foot on Jan 19. He was dominant in the second half, scoring 18 points on eight-for-10 shooting.
Caldwell provided Newport Harbor (14-8, 5-4 in league) with stability and enough firepower in the second half, while Dunlap crashed the boards, and a couple of times hit Caldwell with nifty passes that led to easy points in the paint.
After only scoring two points at halftime, when the Sailors trailed, 31-23, Caldwell powered his way through a trapping defense that forced 20 turnovers in the first 16 minutes.
As Caldwell turned it up, scoring nine in the third, Marina went cold. The school with the huge banner, “3-POINT NATION,” above one of the bleacher sections didn’t live up to the name.
The Vikings (16-9, 4-5) made just two of 11 three-pointers in the third, falling behind, 44-41. But they fought their way back and Caldwell expected it.
“These guys are three-point champions,” said Caldwell of the Vikings, who went into Tuesday’s game with 384 successful three-pointers, two better than the old mark set by Juniata Valley of Alexandria, Pa., in 1996-97. “They’re record breakers.”
After a 12-for-48 shooting performance behind the three-point line, the misses caught up to Marina in the fourth.
With the game tied, 53-53, with 4:05 left, the Vikings didn’t make another field goal until the clock read four seconds.
It was a three-pointer, but it didn’t matter. The Sailors could relax now, not having to worry about the scrappy team that annoyed them earlier.
“This is big,” said Dunlap of the timing as next week the CIF Southern Section playoffs start. “We never really played a team like this [on the road]. It’s only going to help us.”
Sunset League
Newport Harbor 72, Marina 60
Score by Quarters
Newport
9
14
21
28
—
72
Marina
15
16
10
19
—
60
Newport Harbor -- Caldwell 20, Dunlap 19, Stassel 14, Serrano 9, Ma. Helfrich 6, Holmes 2, Nigro 2.
3-pt. goals -- None.
Fouled out -- None.
Technicals -- None.
Marina -- James 17, Kinoshita 13, T. Lewis 9, Douglas 7, Irvin 5, Jordan 3, Holmes 3, C. Lewis 3.
3-pt. goals -- T. Lewis 3, Kinoshita 3, James 3, Jordan 1, Holmes 1, C. Lewis 1.
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