Boys basketball: Eagles come up big

Barry Faulkner

CORONA DEL MAR - Estancia High boys basketball coach Chris Sorce

hopes the first quarter of the rest of his team’s regular-season life

Wednesday signaled an omen of a stretch run to remember.

The Eagles, who entered the Pacific Coast League contest at Corona del

Mar tied with Laguna Beach for fourth place, buried the Sea Kings with a

19-2 first-quarter blitz, en route to a 55-46 triumph.

The victory elevated the Eagles (12-11, 3-4 in league) into a

third-place tie with crosstown rival Costa Mesa with three PCL games

remaining. Estancia visits Mesa Friday at 7 p.m., hoping for a sweep of

the annual series that decides who owns the perpetual Bell trophy.

Estancia defeated Mesa in the first round, 67-57.

“We played our best quarter of the year,” Sorce said of the

eight-minute waltz, which began with an exchange of baskets. But then

four three-pointers, three by senior guard Fernando Maldonado, and a

traditional three-point play by 6-foot-7 junior center Joey Lindquist,

helped the visitors tally the final 17 points of the period.

“We were hitting just about all our shots and (the Sea Kings) were

cold (1 of 12 in the period),” Sorce said.

“For lack of a better word, we were atrocious in that first quarter,”

said CdM Coach Ryan Curry, whose squad fell to 5-19, 1-6. “We dug ourselves a hole too big to dig out of.”

Lindquist, along with 6-3 starting forwards Lewis Bradshaw and Carlos

Pinto, gave the Eagles an inside edge against a CdM lineup that averages

just less than 6-0.

The result was 42 points and 34 rebounds by the front-line trio,

including 20 points and 10 boards from Lindquist, who burned the Sea

Kings for 22 points and 16 boards their first league meeting, a 62-53

win.

“I thought we did a good job of feeding the ball to Joey,” Sorce said.

“When he gets a double-double, we’re going to win more times than not.”

Pinto finished with nine points, including a pair of three-pointers,

and 11 rebounds, while Bradshaw came up big after CdM threatened to come

all the way back in the final quarter.

Bradshaw, making just his second start since a six-game absence from

the starting lineup that began in late December, collected all nine

points and nine of his game-high 13 rebounds in the final period.

Estancia outrebounded the shorter Sea Kings, 43-22, including 24-8

after intermission.

Bradshaw’s putback of a missed free throw with 4:44 left upped the

Estancia lead to 45-37. The bucket came after the Sea Kings had shaved 13

points off a 35-16 deficit in just less than eight minutes, following an

8-2 Estancia run to start the second half.

A layup and another follow shot by Bradshaw, the latter with 1:53

left, after CdM had trimmed the lead to 47-43, gave him six straight

Eagle points. He extended that streak to nine with three free throws. He

was 3 of 3 from the field and 3 of 4 from the foul line.

“Lewis is an absolute animal on the boards,” Sorce said. “That’s

something you can’t teach. It’s something you just have inside you. And

he was able to get some big points for us on some of his offensive

rebounds.”

Bradshaw’s nine points within a four-minute span helped hold off the

Sea Kings, who made things interesting with some tenacious defense and

some hot three-point shooting by junior Kevin Mancillas.

Mancillas posted four of his five three-pointers in the second half,

including back-to-back bombs to pull the hosts to within the

aforementioned 47-43 margin.

“We played hard in the second half, but it’s easier to play well when

you’re behind,” Curry said. “The hard part is maintaining that level when

the game is close or you’re ahead.”

Mancillas finished with 19 points, while junior teammate Brett Matsen

statistics (eight points and four rebounds) belied the inspiration his

unyielding determination appeared to give his teammates.

The Eagles’ cause was aided by Maldonado’s 13 points, including three

three-pointers, as well as eight assists, four rebounds, three steals and

two points by senior point guard Mitch Valdes.

Sorce said his team has talked about finishing with a bang.

“I told them their mission should be to win the final four games on

their (league schedule),” Sorce said. “That’s not a sleight on any of

those four teams, but that’s the mind-set our kids have to have. We’d

like to get on a roll going into the (CIF Southern Section) playoffs and

(Wednesday) was a good start.

“I think our zone bothered (the Sea Kings) a little in the fourth

quarter and I thought we did a good job of keeping cool and composed

against their press in fourth quarter.”

BOYS

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Estancia 55, Corona del Mar 46

Score by Quarters

Estancia 19 8 14 14 - 55

Corona del Mar 2 12 19 13 - 46

Estancia - Bradshaw 9, Pinto 9, Lindquist 20, Maldonado 13, Valdes 2,

Prado 2, Snell 0, Novak 0.

3-pt. goals - Maldonado 3, Pinto 2.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.

Corona del Mar - Mancillas 19, Sherrick-Odom 2, Welch 2, Matsen 8,

Northridge 5, Seaborn 6, Glass 4, Najar 0, Hildebrandt 0, Cooper 0.

3-pt. goals - Mancillas 5.

Fouled out - Matsen.

Technicals - none.