Boys basketball: Eagles lose touch late

Tony Altobelli

IRVINE - From beyond the three-point line, Estancia High’s boys

basketball team shot the lights out.

It’s inside the three-point line that was the factor in the Eagles’ 71-65

loss to Nogales in the semifinals of the Irvine World News Basketball

Classic Friday night at Irvine High.

“Our inside game was pretty much nonexistent tonight,” Boyce said. “We

missed a number of layups and that’s something we’re definitely gonna

have to address, soon.”

With the loss, the Eagles (5-3) will take on Irvine/University today at

4:30 p.m. at Concordia University in the third-place game.

“It’s a learning experience for us,” Boyce said. “We’ll keep battling and

things will come around for us.”

One thing that has definitely come around is the deadly, long-range

shooting of senior John Cantrell. He connected on nine three-pointers and

finished the game with 29 points to lead all scorers.

For the game, the Eagles shot 54% (12 for 22) from three-point land.

In fact, it was Cantrell’s early hot hand that enabled Estancia to jump

out to a 20-8 first quarter advantage. Cantrell and Jason Simco combined

for 6 of 7 shooting from three-point range.

“In the beginning, not only were we shooting the ball well, but our

overall execution was very good,” Boyce said.

In the second quarter, it was the Nobles’ turn to find the mark from

long-range. Kevin Carson was 4-for-4 from behind the arc and scored 12 of

the Nobles’ 18 points, cutting the 12-point lead in half by halftime.

“Carson got open and his threes really hurt us,” Boyce said.

The Nobles (7-3) started to go to their big guys in the second half.

Forwards Antoine Chandler and Ron Quinine led the Nobles on a 13-7 run,

tying the game at 39 with three minutes remaining in the third quarter.

With the long-range shooters either heavily guarded or on the bench with

foul trouble, Estancia looked inside to Darshaun Garner. The senior

center scored seven of his 15 points in the third quarter, including the

Eagles’ last five points.

With the Eagles holding onto a one-point lead going into the fourth

quarter, Nogales took advantage of sloppy play and scored the first eight

points, jumping out to a seven-point lead, its first lead since 6-3 in

the first quarter.

“Our execution was poor down the stretch,” Boyce said. “We just couldn’t

get the matchups we needed with all the fouls.”

A 7-1 run by the Eagles cut the lead to 54-53, but Nogales made two

baskets and a free throw to push the lead up to nine with four minutes

left.

Cantrell, after going 1 for 5 from behind the arc in the third quarter,

hit back-to-back three’s and Simco followed with one of his own and

Estancia regained the lead, 62-61, with 2:30 left.

After a Nogales basket, Travis Chandler converted a three-point play

extending the lead to, 65-63, with two minutes remaining.

From there, however, Nogales scored the final eight points of the game,

including 6 for 6 from the free-throw line, while the Eagles went 0-8

from the field the rest of the game.

“We definitely had our opportunities down the stretch,” Boyce said. “We

just couldn’t make them.”

Simco, despite playing with four fouls most of the second half, finished

with 12 points.

For the well-balanced Nobles, four players scored 10-or-more points.

IRVINE WORLD NEWS TOURNAMENT

Semifinals

Nogales 71, Estancia 65

Estancia 20 12 14 19 - 65

Nogales 8 18 19 26 - 71

Estancia - Cantrell 29, Garner 15, Simco 12, Chandler 5, Rodriguez 2,

Aguilar 2, Maldonado 0.

3 pt. goals - Cantrell 9, Simco 3.

Fouled out - none.

Nogales - Boyd 14, Chandler 13, Carson 12, Quinine 11, Pagdilao 9, Miller

8, Rodgers 4.

3 pt. goals - Carson 4, Chandler 1.

Fouled out - none.