Boys basketball: Eagles Garner strength to rally, 56-53

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - While Estancia High boys basketball coach Rich Boyce

was assuring his team it should stick with it at halftime of the

third-round pool play clash against Trabuco Hills Wednesday, Estancia

sophomore coach Chris Sorce was in senior center Darshaun Garner’s ear.

“(Sorce) told me to calm down and that I could play with anybody,” said

Garner, who proved his former coach prophetic by leading the hosts to a

dramatic 64-62 come-from-behind triumph, which put the Eagles (10-4) into

tonight’s 7:30 title game against Marina.

“I came out of my slump,” said the 6-foot-4 hero, who collected 16 of his

20 points and 10 of his 16 rebounds in the second half.

“We won that game because of Darshaun,” Boyce said, after watching his

team methodically erase a 13-point deficit.

“He’s back to being the player he was the first four games of the year

(16.2 points per game).”

Garner’s second-half success came after 6-5 Trabuco senior Evan Fields

toasted him for 14 first-half points to help the Mustangs lead, 38-27, at

the break.

“The coaches got on me (at halftime),” Garner said. “I’ve been playing

timidly lately and I needed to get my confidence back.”

Garner made all eight field-goal attempts in the final 16 minutes,

including the game-winner on a feed from Travis Chandler with eight

seconds left.

“Dar was our first option,” said Boyce, who called timeout after gaining

Garner intercepted a pass on a Trabuco Hills pick and roll to Fields with

35 seconds left, then another with 16 ticks remaining to get specific.

Garner, who had averaged just 8.2 points the last five games, finished 9

of 10 from the field and held Fields to five second-half points, none in

the final 10:08.

Senior guard Jon Cantrell (22 points) also aided the comeback, drilling

two of his six three-pointers during a 14-5 third-quarter run which

whipped the spirited home crowd into a frenzy.

The surge trimmed the lead to 46-43, but Trabuco (7-7) righted itself to

take a 55-47 edge into the final period.

Two more Cantrell three balls, as well as buckets by Garner, Jason Simco

and Chandler, brought Estancia to within two, before Chandler (nine

points and eight assists) hit Cantrell for a back-door layup to knot it

at 62 with 1:25 left.

Garner was fouled while making his go-ahead layup, Estancia’s first lead

since 2-0, and rebounded his own miss. He was fouled again, but Estancia

lost the ball out of bounds on the ensuing inbounds play.

Trabuco sophomore Aaron Tudor’s three-pointer at the buzzer bounced off

the rim, giving the Eagles a shot at their third Christmas Classic crown

in four seasons.