Boys basketball: Mesa sweeps past Eagles

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - Costa Mesa High’s Steve Whittaker knew it was now or

never. He chose now.

The senior standout made the most of the situation and scored a

game-high 27 points to lead the Costa Mesa High boys basketball team to a

65-50 Pacific Coast League win over crosstown-rival Estancia before a

frenzied crowd at the Mustangs’ gym.

“I understood that this was the last time in my life I’d ever play

against Estancia,” Whittaker said. “I just wanted to come out and have a

big night.”

Whittaker drained seven three-pointers, grabbed seven rebounds and was

a major thorn in the side of the Eagles’ offensive game plan.

“He’s our captain and he played like it tonight,” Mesa Coach Bob

Serven said. “He’s a guy we look up to. He’s been struggling a little bit

in league so it was nice to see him step it up in such an important

game.”

The verdict not only gave the “Victory Bell” over to Costa Mesa for

the first time in school history, it gave the Mustangs their first sweep

over the Eagles since 1967-68, when they won three straight over their

rivals.

“We’re trying to build a basketball tradition here at Mesa,” Serven

said. “We don’t want to have just one good year here and there. Right

now, we’re going in the right direction. We have a good mix of leadership

and youngsters and with the junior varsity team tied for first place, we

seem to have a bright future ahead of us.”

Junior David Conte chipped in 16 points for the Mustangs (14-7, 4-2 in

league), while junior Nolan Clark added 11.

“Nolan really helped our offense out in the second half,” Serven said.

“For some reason, he matches up well against Estancia.”

Micah Young, fresh off his 39-point, 14-rebound effort against

University on Wednesday, led the Eagles (7-14, 2-4) with 19 points and

nine rebounds. Eliasar Maldonado added 10 points.

“It’s been our Achilles’ heel all season long,” Estancia Coach Chris

Sorce said. “We play three good quarters and one bad one. Tonight, that

one bad quarter made all the difference.”

Mesa jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead to get the crowd into the game

from the opening whistle.

“Tonight’s crowd was what high school basketball is all about,” Serven

said. “The coaches feel it, the players feel it. It was just a great

atmosphere.”

Estancia kept its composure and drew within one, but Whittaker got

hot, hitting four three-pointers in the first quarter alone to give Mesa

a 22-17 advantage.

“I only had five points the last time I played these guys, so I really

wanted to come out strong early,” Whittaker said.

The second quarter was dominated by the Eagles. After turning the ball

over seven times in the first quarter, Estancia only had one giveaway in

the second.

Young and Freddy Rodriguez (eight points) each had six points in the

quarter and a 17-9 outburst gave the Eagles a 34-31 halftime lead.

“We gave Estancia way too many second shots in that second quarter,”

Serven said. “Our rebounding was terrible and we had to regroup and be

strong on the boards the rest of the way.”

The Eagles’ four-point lead lasted all of 46 seconds in the third. A

jumper by Chad Vakili, quickly followed by a trey from Conte, gave the

Mustangs the lead for good.

Kenny Valbuena (nine points, nine rebounds) and Maldonado tried to

spark some Eagles’ offense, but it was Mesa’s Clark who highlighted the

third quarter, scoring seven points as a 15-4 run gave the Mustangs an

eight-point lead after three.

“We wanted to make sure that Maldonado had a hand in his face at all

times,” Serven said. “We also wanted to keep Micah off the blocks and

make him beat us from the outside.”

Whittaker started the fourth quarter with two big three-pointers,

while Conte ended the game with six straight points as Mesa connected on

70% of its shots in the final eight minutes.

“This was a big win for us, not just because it was Estancia, but it

keeps us near the top of the PCL,” Serven said. “I’m just happy as heck

for our guys and our school.”

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Costa Mesa 65, Estancia 50

Score by Quarters

Estancia 17 17 4 12 - 50 Costa Mesa 22 9 15 19 - 65

Estancia - Young 19, Maldonado 10, K. Valbuena 9, Rodriguez 8, Prado

4, Cachola 0, Berame 0, Niles 0, D. Valbuena 0.

3-pt. goals - Maldonado 1.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.

Costa Mesa - Whittaker 27, Conte 16, Clark 11, Vakili 7, Payne 4,

Biggio 0, Krikorian 0, Gandia 0, Cabico 0, Fregoso 0, Millward 0,

Amburgey 0.

3-pt. goals - Whittaker 7, Conte 2, Vakili 1.

Fouled out - none.