BOYS’ BASKETBALL ROUNDUP

In the Pacific Coast League:

Estancia 72, Laguna Hills 58--The fifth-ranked Eagles continued to demonstrate the best way to ruin a game plan is to hammer an opponent early and often.

Estancia, which used an early 18-0 run to beat second-place Laguna Beach 12 days ago, outscored Laguna Hills, 19-2, during the first quarter Wednesday to deflate the third-place Hawks at Laguna Hills High.

“(Laguna Beach and Laguna Hills) will be very patient on you if you don’t get out early,” Estancia Coach Tim Parsel said. “It’s been our point of emphasis . . . get off quick because we don’t want to watch a team play catch and have to chase after them.”

Laguna Hills (12-7, 4-3) received the best performance of the game from junior Mike Scaglione who scored 34 points, including five three-pointers and an 11-for-11 effort at the free-throw line.

But it was the depth, size and quickness of Estancia (20-3, 7-0) that made the difference.

In the first half, the Eagles blew out to a 19-4 lead, saw the Hawks cut it to 10 and then stretched it to 34-21 at halftime.

In the post position, Kevin Byrne had all 10 of his points in the first half, and Chris Candlish scored eight in the game for Estancia.

Laguna Hills sagged in the middle to open the third quarter, but Estancia guard Zack Richardson hit four consecutive three-pointers and scored 14 points in the quarter to give the Eagles a 63-38 advantage.