by Olivia Krueger, staff writer
Despite solid offensive and defensive performances, varsity boys basketball fell short 59-67 of what would have been an authoritative win over the formidable Newport Harbor Sailors.
The Barons came out with their starting five Adam Trounce (‘17), Sean Huynh (‘17), Cody Newsome (‘17), Garrett Young (‘19) and Josh Gray (‘18). Newsome made a 3-pointer for the Fountain Valley’s first point of the game to make the score 3-4 Newport. With quick wits, Newsome stole the ball from Newport’s defense and picked up the foul, however, missing both of his shots while Gray made both of his. Barons kept pace with the Sailors after Huynh made an athletic under the basket layup and Trounce, who had stolen the ball, passed to Mike Lightbody (’17) off the bench who made a layup.
“He’s not ready yet. I mean he hasn’t played for a month, now he’s physically hobbling but mentally remembering plays, feeling the chemistry. Basketballs a game of rhythm you can’t just step in and go,” said Schultz about the return of Lightbody.
As the first quarter ended, the Sailors lead 18-11 but the Barons continued to hold on.
The offense came out and dominated the second quarter and scored 21
points and held Newport to 19. Gray and Newsome each made both of their free throws and continued to gain ground on the Sailors. The Barons went into halftime trailing by only five with the score 37-32.
Newsome started the half strong and made his second steal on the night and go coast-to-coast for the layup and the game was tied 38-38. With the adrenaline higher than ever, Trounce made a clutch 2-pointer and took the lead 38-40. But with a foul by Young, Newport sinks the free throw and retook the lead 43-42. The Sailors continued to pull away and ended the third quarter leading 51-47.
The Barons continued to play strong offense and defense but could not keep up with the athleticism of Newport’s strong offense. “We had better offense tonight and we had better defense the second half, the first half wasn’t so good,” said Schultz.
Gray shot another perfect free-throw and Newsome made 1-2. However, Newport scored five points from free throws which proved to be valuable when they continued to win by seven points.
Newsome lead the team with 21 points and Lightbody scored five in his first game back from injury. Gray also made six points from shooting 100% on his free throws.
Boys varsity basketball is now 1-7 in league play and 11-17 overall. The next and final game of the season will be against Los Alamitos at FVHS.
