Boys basketball: Cantrell lights up scoreboard

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - Estancia High’s Jon Cantrell has been branded with the

“streaky shooter” label throughout his high school playing career.

Following Monday’s 90-66 win over Antelope Valley Christian in day-one

pool-play action, Cantrell can add the label “record holder” to his list

of adjectives describing his on-again, off-again shooting.

The Eagles’ senior shooting guard scored had 38 points, including a

Newport-Mesa District record 10 three-pointers, breaking the previous

mark of nine set by Costa Mesa’s Ryan Naff on Dec. 13. He tied the mark

on Dec. 17 with nine treys in a loss to Nogales.

“Just as important as Jon’s 10 threes were in the game, it was the way

he got them that was just as important,” Coach Rich Boyce said. “The guys

were making the extra pass and executing our offense well. He got a lot

of open shots because of his teammates.”

For the night, Cantrell was 10 for 15 from the arc, while the Eagles

(8-4) shot 13 for 21 for the night from three-point land.

Cantrell’s 38 points is the fifth-highest total in the 15-year history

of the Coast Christmas Classic.

Adding to the explosive Eagles’ offense was Jason Simco with 12

points, including two treys, Steve Rodrigues with 11 and Darshaun Garner

with 10.

“We basically shot the lights out tonight,” Boyce said. “We executed

well and we had a lot of open shots. I could tell at the shoot-around

that we were ready to play.”

AVC (5-5) dressed only seven players and was out of gas by the end of

the game. Strong play from Peter Beaudin (25 points), Jamal Flanagan (18)

and Matthew Nurse (15) kept the game from getting totally out of hand.

“I tell you what, they had some guys that could play over there,”

Boyce said. “We were just shooting the ball real well tonight.”

Estancia never trailed in the game and opened up an 11-point lead

after the first quarter. AVC shot 5 for 17 from the field in the first

eight minutes.

Cantrell scored 21 of his points in the first half as Estancia’s lead

grew to 16 by halftime. The Eagles were 8 of 10 from three-point range in

the first half.

Estancia never let up, scoring eight of the first nine points in the

third quarter to stretch the lead to 24 points.

“I was very pleased with the team’s effort out there,” Boyce said. “We

never let up and we played hard all the way to the end.”

With the reserves mainly in the fourth quarter, Elisar Maldonado came

off the bench to score eight fourth-quarter points.

Next up for the Eagles is Edison High tonight at 5:50 in day two of

pool-play action.