Boys basketball: Eagles fall just short, 53-52

Richard Dunn

IRVINE - In a game with more ups and downs than a wild day on Wall

Street, Estancia High’s Eagles barely missed the closing bell Tuesday

night.

In the end, it came down to the free-throw line and Diamond Bar’s

6-foot-8 center, Mark Lecmen, who provided the winning margin with 0:03

left on the clock as the Eagles absorbed a 53-52 setback in the opening

round of the Irvine World News Tournament at Woodbridge High.

Lecmen, also a pitcher in baseball whose fastball has been clocked at

94 mph, missed the first of two free throws with the game deadlocked,

52-52, then Estancia Coach Chris Sorce iced him with a timeout.

Lecmen, however, drained the next free throw as the Brahmas (5-2)

closed out the Eagles (2-4), who face Huntington Beach in a losers’

bracket game at 6 p.m. tonight at Woodbridge.

“I took a little more time on the second free throw and made sure I

did everything right mechanically before I shot it,” said Lecmen, who

signed early with Stanford to play baseball and is projected as a No. 1

choice in next June’s major league draft.

Sorce, though, never thought Lecmen should have been at the line. “It

was a no-call situation,” Sorce said, referring to Kenny Valbuena’s foul

that sent Lecmen to the line.

Estancia was down by seven points in the second quarter, 22-15, then

rallied to take a 36-35 halftime lead.

“We had our best offensive quarter of the year in the second quarter

(outscoring Diamond Bar, 25-21), but then we had our poorest quarter of

the year in the third quarter,” said Sorce, whose team made 1 of 7 from

the field in the third period and was outscored, 8-3.

Early in the fourth, the Brahmas went up, 46-39, but the Eagles came

back again, building a 52-46 lead behind Elisar Maldonado (16 points),

Micah Young (14) and George Prado (13), whose off-balance three-pointer

tied the game, 46-46, with 5:11 to play.

Diamond Bar enjoyed the final rally as the Eagles failed to score in

the game’s final 2:32.

“They never gave up and they never quit,” Sorce said of his players.

“They were in the game from beginning to end.”

Lecmen led Diamond Bar with 20 points, 13 rebounds, five blocks and

two steals.

IRVINE WORLD NEWS TOURNAMENT

First round

Diamond Bar 53, Estancia 52

Score by Quarters

Estancia 11 25 3 13 - 52 Diamond Bar 14 21 8 10 - 53 Estancia - Maldonado 16, Cachola 6, Young 14, Prado 13, K. Valbuena 1,

D. Valbuena 2, Stoddard 0, Romero 0.

3-pt. goals - Maldonado 3, Prado 3.

Fouled out - None.

Technical fouls - None.

Diamond Bar - Haney 0, Robinson 5, Jecmen 20, Ford 21, Brunelle 0,

Morita 3, Garcia 2, Maine 2.

3-pt. goals - Ford 3, Robinson 1, Morita 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technical fouls - None.