Boys Basketball: Estancia can’t hold on

Joseph Boo

COSTA MESA - Coming off a tough loss to University High on Friday,

Estancia’s boys basketball team could have thrown in the towel against

Serra League power Santa Margarita. Instead, the Eagles came out inspired

and almost pulled off its second nonleague upset this week, falling 55-49

at home on Saturday. Estancia defeated Newport Harbor, ranked No. 9 in

Orange County, 56-54, on Wednesday.

“I’m very proud of them,” Estancia Coach Rich Boyce said about his team.

“They’re a tough bunch of kids. What they lack in size and girth, they

made up for with heart. They just wanted to go out and prove it.”

Estancia led, 49-47, with 2:11 left. But Santa Margarita got two quick

transition baskets at the end to give the parochial power the lead for

good.

“The team that played best in the final two minutes won the game,” Boyce

said.

The Eagles (12-10) kept Santa Margarita, ranked No. 6 in CIF Southern

Section Division II-A, on its heels right from the start. Jon Cantrell

hit two three-pointers and Darshaun Garner scored eight of his 18 points

in the first quarter as the Eagles led, 19-14.

Santa Margarita’s offense was kept off-balanced for the entire game, as

Estancia constantly changed up its defense to confuse its opponent.

“That got us out of our game,” Santa Margarita Coach Jerry DeBusk said.

It was a Herculean effort from Santa Margarita’s Lenny Collins that kept

his team afloat. He scored 15 of his game-high 26 points in the first

half, all on three-pointers. With Estancia up by 10 points in the second

quarter, Collins hit three consecutive three-pointers to slice the lead

to 28-27.

Although Cantrell hit three three-pointers in the first half, it was

Garner who drove Santa Margarita crazy. He scored 12 in the first half

and killed Santa Margarita with his rebounds. At halftime, Santa

Margarita shifted its game plan to put more bodies on him.

But Cantrell was the one that hurt Santa Margarita in the second half. He

hit several tough jumpers and two NBA-range threes. His second one gave

Estancia 49-47 lead with 4:01 left on the clock.

That was the last time Estancia scored. Santa Margarita finally found

seams in Estancia’s defense on the transition, and R.J. Saki made two

easy basket for Santa Margarita to give it a 51-49 lead with 1:20 left.

Cantrell then missed a three-point attempt and Santa Margarita got the

rebound. Collins put up a three-point attempt at the other end and

missed, but he got his own rebound with 39 seconds left, forcing Estancia

to foul him. The Eagles then had to keep fouling and hope Santa Margarita

would miss free throws, which didn’t happen.

Estancia’s starters scored all 49 points. Jason Simco, Steve Rodriguez

and Travis Chandler scored four, three and two, respectively. This is

Estancia’s sixth loss in its last eight games.

“This is a quality team,” Boyce said about his squad, “besides being 0-4

in the Pacific Coast League. But these guys deserve better. We just have

to go out and play hard the rest of the way.”

DeBusk was also impressed by the opponent which gave his team a scare on

Saturday.

“Estancia was the better team tonight,” he said after the game. “They

played very hard. Give them credit.”

Nonleague

Santa Margarita 55, Estancia 49

Score by Quarters

Santa Margarita 14 16 10 15 - 55

Estancia 19 11 14 5 - 49 Santa Margarita - Collins 26, Smith 10, R. Stacey 4, Ansevic 2, Saki 4,

Hosfeld, 3, Rohe 2,

3-pt. goals - Collins 6.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.

Estancia - Cantrell 22, Garner 18, Simco 4, Rodriguez 3, Chandler 2,

Maldonado 0, Jiminez 0, Aguilar 0.

3-pt. goals - Cantrell 5.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.