Estancia breaking ground

COSTA MESA — The difference between this year’s Estancia High boys’ basketball team and last year’s is part vocal if you ask Barry Fryslie.

“He’s a lot more active,” Fryslie said of first-year coach Agustin Heredia. “He yells at us.”

Even more so when the Eagles are winning, but Fryslie said “that’s a good thing.”

Heredia could be heard throughout Wednesday night. He picked up the young Eagles whenever they found themselves in a jam.

They were in a few against rival Costa Mesa, none of which got in the way of the Eagles running away with a 67-46 Orange Coast League victory at home.

The 20-plus point win was Estancia’s first in a league contest since 2006, an accomplishment for a program going 0-9 in league last year. The coach who last guided the Eagles to a league blowout victory was Jason Simco, and he was in attendance, sitting a few rows behind the Estancia bench.

The last time the Eagles were headed for a winning season, Simco was the coach in 2004-05, a year afterward he left. He’s now an assistant at Corona del Mar, the defending CIF Southern Section Division III-A champion.

Estancia is nowhere near competing for a section title. But the Eagles (10-11, 2-2 in league) appear as if they might finish above .500, another feat especially after going 2-24 last season.

Five more league games remain, two of those against defending league champion Laguna Beach and two against Calvary Chapel, teams Estancia hasn’t beaten.

The Eagles’ two wins this season have come against Costa Mesa, which is a mirror image of last year’s Estancia team. The Mustangs dropped to 0-21, 0-4 in league. The same problem that has prevented them from winning cost them another chance Wednesday.

“Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers,” said Costa Mesa first-year coach Kevin Palmer, who could have uttered the word more times to match the number of turnovers the Mustangs committed.

Thirty in all, almost as much as the number of field goals Costa Mesa attempted in the game.

Tim Neumann and Fryslie recorded a handful of steals, helping the two finish with 18 and 11 points, respectively. For Neumann, he said the points were a career-high, not bad for a first-year varsity player. A couple of his points against the Mustangs were easy, much of it because he said “they’re a little lazy.”

Troy McClanahan also took advantage of Costa Mesa’s lapses in a third quarter in which Estancia outscored the Mustangs, 25-7. After the guard hit his second three-pointer in the quarter, he quickly stole the ball and easily scored two of his 17 points.

Now that was the kind of hustle play Heredia sought. Even he couldn’t control himself on the sideline, as he pumped a fist.

“More than anything, I’m really pleased with the effort, especially since we [had] lost two in a row,” Heredia said. “We did some good things.”

In return, Heredia shouted words of encouragement.

Orange Coast League

Estancia 67, Costa Mesa 46

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CM – Millian 11, Hernandez 7, LeValley 6, Molina 4, Astorino 4, Gardner 3, Dye 3, Waldron 3, Dawson 2, Thompson 2, Lefebvre 1.

3-pt. goals – Millian 2, Hernandez 1, LeValley 1.

Est. – Neumann 18, McClanahan 17, Jones 11, Fryslie 11, Allred 4, Knapp 4, Zirbel 2.

3-pt. goals – McClanahan 3, Jones 1, Fryslie 1.

Fouled out – None.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].