Boys basketball: Eagles take a step backward

Tony Altobelli

IRVINE - If Wednesday’s contest with Huntington Beach was a golf

matchup, the Estancia High boys basketball team would be calling for a

“mulligan.”

The Eagles lost to the Oilers, 67-51, in consolation action at the

Irvine World News Tournament, leaving Coach Chris Sorce wondering if

anyone got the license of the truck that just hit his program.

“We had been making positive strides the past few games, but tonight

we went backward significantly,” Sorce said. “We were out of sync right

from the beginning, but a lot of that was Huntington Beach’s doing.”

The Oilers (4-4) connected on their first six shots, putting the

Eagles (2-5) on their heels early.

“They (Huntington Beach) were on fire early,” Sorce said. “Any time

you work hard on defense, you force the team to use the shot clock and

they still manage to find the basket over and over again, it can deflate

you.”

The deflation carried the Eagles all the way to a 26-point hole in the

third quarter before a 10-0 fourth-quarter run made the score more

respectable.

“We’ll see them in a couple of weeks so we’ll get our chance at

redemption,” Sorce said. “We just have to put this game behind us, burn

the films and go at it again on Friday.

Estancia will consolation play against Tustin/Jurupa Valley at 6 p.m.

on Friday night at Woodbridge/Northwood High.

Eliasar Maldonado led Eagles with 17 points, while George Prado

chipped in with 12.

The Oilers took control of the game with a 10-0 run in the second

quarter, turning an eight-point lead into an 18-point cushion. Estancia

was held to only four points in that quarter on 1-of-12 shooting.

“You’ve got to give a ton of credit to Huntington Beach,” Sorce said.

“They took it to us and played very well out there.”

IRVINE WORLD NEWS TOURNAMENT

Consolation

Huntington Beach 67, Estancia 51

Huntington Beach 18 16 17 16 - 67

Estancia 12 4 13 22 - 51

Huntington Beach - Janovick 19, Sullivan 9, Harrison 5, Bailey 7,

Anderson 2, DeHart 4, Jaso 1, VanVoorhis 2, Kokubun 2, Austin 16.

3 pt. goals - None.

Fouled out - Janovick.

Estancia - Maldonado 17, Rodriguez 6, Stoddard 3, Young 7, Prado 12,

D. Valbuena 2, K. Valbuena 2, Romero 2, Phan 0, Cachola 0, Berame 0.

3 pt. goals - Maldonado 2, Prado 2, Stoddard 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technical fouls - Romero 1.