Boys basketball: Estancia handles Oilers

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - Despite a valiant effort from Huntington Beach High,

Estancia used a strong second half to put away the pesky Oilers, 71-46,

in nonleague boys basketball action Tuesday night.

“Their coaching staff always gets their team ready to play,” Eagles

Coach Rich Boyce said. “They lost four games at the Irvine World News

tournament by a combined 12 points so I knew they would be ready to play

against us. I think we wore them down as the game went on.”

Eagles’ senior Jon Cantrell overcame a slow shooting night to finish

with a game-high 21 points, including four three-pointers.

Senior Travis Chandler had 12 points for Estancia, while Jason Simco

added 11.

“All my guys have the green light,” Boyce said. “Provided that they

have their feet set and are open. We were fortunate to have some shots

fall for us in the second half.”

No shots were falling for Estancia (7-3) early as Huntington Beach

(1-9) scored the first seven points of the game. Estancia was 0 for 7

during that four-minute span.

“We had a tough start and Huntington was solid early,” Boyce said. “We

just needed to settle down and get more focused.”

From there, it was pretty much all Eagles.

They outscored the Oilers, 16-4, the rest of the first quarter and

used a 10-0 run in the second quarter to open up a 31-20 halftime lead.

Cantrell scored 12 of his 21 points in the third quarter as Estancia

outscored the Oilers, 10-0, in the last two minutes to open up a 19-point

lead after three quarters.

“In the second half, we were able to run our offense much better,”

Boyce said. “It was a very good second half for us and hopefully we can

build on that for our next game.”

After an 11-3 run to open the fourth quarter, both teams went to the

reserves the rest of the way.

Matt Sanders led the Oilers with 11 points.

The Eagles will travel to Aliso Niguel to battle the Wolverines

tonight at 7 in nonleague action.

NONLEAGUE

Estancia 71, Huntington Beach 46

Hunt. Beach 11 9 13 13 - 46

Estancia 16 15 21 19 - 71

Hunt. Beach - Sanders 11, Janovick 6, Konstantinidis 5, DeHart 4,

Needham 4, Allen 4, Ventimiglia 3, Harrison 3, Mio 3, Mackey 2, Duquette

1.

3 pt. goals - Sanders 2, Janovick 2.

Fouled out - None.

Estancia - Cantrell 21, Chandler 12, Simco 11, Maldonado 8, Garner 7,

Rodriguez 4, Jiminez 4, Aguilar 2, Concepcion 2, Hernandez 0.

3 pt. goals - Cantrell 4, Simco 1.

Fouled out - None.