Harbor falls in league opener

ANAHEIM — For an opening round, Kyle Caldwell stood in as long as possible before being dropped to the floor.

In the third quarter, his face was closer to the court than his sneakers.

The Sunset League opener for the Newport Harbor High boys’ basketball team left the 6-foot-9 center with a gash near his left eye, a cut below his right knee and a busted lip.

Caldwell shrugged off all the bumps and bruises levied on him by Esperanza.

“I’ve bled all over the place before,” he said. “It happens.”

The Aztecs made sure to punish Caldwell throughout, forcing him out of action twice with injuries. The last time, with 72 seconds left, Caldwell just walked away from the court, with the trainer right behind him like a boxer’s cut man.

With its stud out, Newport Harbor’s best chance to come back and win on the road faded. Esperanza won, 56-46, on a Friday night in which “Friday Night Fights” seemed more suited than a league opener.

The best player in the league, as Esperanza Coach Jason Pietsch tagged Caldwell, a UCLA-bound volleyball player, afterward, walked away upright. Impressive after 6-5 Kyle Pascual and his backup 6-6 Lloyd Birtles hit Caldwell as if he was a heavy bag.

“I told our big guys, ‘We have 10 fouls to use on him, let’s bang him a little bit, and see what happens,’ ” said Pietsch, whose team improved to 11-7. “I guess it worked out. I don’t want to give away too much of the details.”

Caldwell wore all the particulars, blood dripping from his face and leg. Coach Larry Hirst, concerned, looked on from the sideline knowing without his senior the opportunity for Newport Harbor (10-6) to bounce back from an erratic first half, where it shot 21% and trailed by 11, would prove troublesome.

After converting a basket with 3:17 remaining in the third quarter, Caldwell crashed onto the court like a redwood tree in a national park. For a minute or so, Caldwell stayed down after Pascual was called for the foul.

Once Caldwell rose he couldn’t finish the three-point play at the free-throw line. Forced to leave because of the blood, Caldwell walked behind the scorer’s table, where the Aztecs’ trainer cleaned up the area near the eye and then stuck a Band-Aid to stop the bleeding.

While doing so the blood from the cut on Caldwell’s right knee had already reached his sock. Caldwell finally returned with 52.3 seconds left in the third, the quarter in which he had scored eight of his game-high 17 points.

But just as Caldwell lowered his right sock to conceal the stains, the Sailors couldn’t hide the fact that they had no answers for guards Arman Brown and Casey Wasinack.

The duo easily drove into the lane as if it had a free FastTrak pass on a freeway, combining for 15 points in the second half. The reason behind the success was easy for Brown and Wasinack, who finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

“He started getting injured,” Wasinack said of Caldwell. “It took him out of this game.”

Not helping Caldwell was picking up his fourth foul early in the fourth quarter.

But the Sailors received a boost from Travis Kuhns, a senior contributing to the Sailors’ recent second-place finish at the Don Bambauer Memorial Christmas Classic in Kentfield.

Kuhns hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut the deficit to 44-35. Hirst quickly inserted Caldwell back into the game. Caldwell made his first field-goal attempt since getting hurt in the third, cutting the lead to eight.

But that’s as close as the Sailors got as one of the players hammering Caldwell all night hurt the Sailors again.

This time Pascual scored six of his team-high 14 points late in the fourth to seal the game.

“I hate to see that happen,” said Pascual of Caldwell getting beat up. “But our game plan was to shut down No. 50.”

Sunset League

Esperanza 56, Newport Harbor 46

SCORE BY QUARTERS

NH – Caldwell 17, Volz 10, Kuhns 8, Whiteside 6, Helfrich 3, Galey 2.

3-pt. goals – Kuhns 2, Caldwell 1.

Fouled out – None.

Esp. – Pascual 14, Brown 11, Wasinack 10, Pettibone 10, Ortin 5, Birtles 4, Constantino 2.

3-pt. goals – Ortin 1, Brown 1.

Fouled out – None.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].