Estancia’s rally fizzles out, 66-48

Barry Faulkner

Two games into the 2002-03 season, the Estancia High boys

basketball team knows it is up to a challenge.

The cost of that knowledge, however, was a 66-48 loss to a strong

Orange Lutheran team in a La Quinta Aztec Classic championship

quarterfinal Tuesday night at La Quinta High.

After Orange Lutheran (3-0) took a 27-4 lead 10 minutes into the

contest, the Eagles settled in, then started slicing away at the

Lancers’ advantage, eventually closing to within 51-45 with 5:01

remaining.

But the comeback, sparked by the offense of senior center Joey

Lindquist and sophomore forward Carlos Pinto, as well as intense

defensive pressure from guards Zack Novak and Matt Cachola and

forward Scott Sankey, will give the Eagles something positive to take

into Friday’s fifth-place semifinal against the loser of tonight’s

University-Santa Ana Valley quarterfinal.

“I think the final score was a little deceiving,” said Sorce, who

challenged his players at halftime, trailing, 37-19, to find some competitive fire. “This was about three or four games rolled into

one. We were buried and out of it, then we got back into it and a lot

of good things happened. That’s as good a team as we’ll face all

year, so, hopefully, we can learn and grow and get better from the

experience.”

That experience was forgettable early, as the more physical

Lancers forced the Eagles (1-1) into eight first-quarter turnovers

and just 2-of-10 shooting from the field.

“That first quarter, we just got blitzed,” Sorce said. “It was

like we were playing UCLA in its heyday. I thought John Wooden was

sitting on the other bench with the way they were playing against

us.”

While Estancia missed its first three field-goal attempts, before

Lindquist broke the shutout with a four-foot bank with 3:20 left in

the period, Orange Lutheran opened 5 for 5 from the field and

finished 10 of 12 for the quarter.

The Lancers scored the first six points of the second period,

before Estancia finally caught its collective breath.

Estancia junior Jordan Stroman came off the bench to score all

nine of his points in the second quarter, seven coming from the foul

line.

The Lancers’ comfortable cushion began evaporating in the third

period, when the Eagles outscored them, 22-12.

“Jordan carried us, offensively, in the second quarter, then Joey

and Carlos rose to the occasion early in the second half,” Sorce

said.

The 6-foot-7 Lindquist sank 4 of 5 field-goal attempts in the

third quarter en route to a team-high 17 points. Lindquist also led

the Eagles with 11 rebounds.

With Lindquist clicking inside, Pinto, got hot on the perimeter,

netting three consecutive three-pointers within an 81-second span to help trim the deficit to 43-30 with 5:24 left in the third quarter.

Cachola and Sankey added buckets to help the Eagles pull to within

49-41 heading into the final period and a Lindquist putback, followed

by two Pinto free throws, cut the lead to six early in the fourth.

But the Lancers then regained control against the seemingly

depleted Eagles, finishing with a 15-3 run that, Sorce believed,

distorted the margin of victory.

La Quinta Tournament

Quarterfinal

Orange Lutheran 66, Estancia 48

Score by Quarters

Orange Lutheran 21 16

12 17 -- 66

Estancia 4 15 22

7 -- 48

Orange Lutheran -- Luecke 12, Chester 2, Romberg 2,

Klitzing 19, Tanner 18, Gulsvig 7, Wilson 6.

3-pt. goals -- Gulsvig 2.

Fouled out -- none.

Technicals -- none.

Estancia -- Pinto 11, Sankey 2, Lindquist 17, Cachola 6,

Novak 1, Stroman 9, Hoffman 2, Andersen 0, Meissner 0, Viramontes 0,

Escobedo 0.

3-pt. goals -- Pinto 3.

Fouled out -- none.

Technicals -- none.