HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Alemany Letdown Leads to 11-Point Loss

Guard Mark Estabrook scored a game-high 23 points and forward Chris Gaines added 17 points and grabbed 19 rebounds Saturday night to lead Dos Pueblos High past Alemany, 62-51, in a quarterfinal championship game of the Simi Valley tournament.

Alemany (1-1) trailed, 49-48, with 3:10 to play but the Chargers outscored the Indians, 13-3, to put the game out of reach.

Alemany took its only lead, 15-14, early in the second quarter on a three-point basket by guard William Burr. Then, the Indians turned the ball over three consecutive times and Estabrook converted all three for a seven-point run.

Dos Pueblos (1-0) used seven different defensive strategies that kept Alemany’s 6-foot-6 center Tim Fontinette and forward Richard Dice out of the lane. The Chargers also held Burr to 13 points.

It was Burr’s 26-point performance and three-point shot at the buzzer against Taft on Friday that moved the Indians into the championship round.

“We weren’t going to let (Burr) hurt us, so we pressured him from mid-court all game,” Dos Pueblos Coach Eric Burkhardt said. “We played tight defense and they had a hard time shooting over our big men.”

Alemany Coach Rocky Moore blamed the loss on overconfidence from the victory over Taft.

“We got one good game under our belt and they tried to ride on their laurels from that game tonight,” he said. “We played as a team last night and we played as individuals tonight.”