Eagles repeat, 45-38

Bryce Alderton

Same two teams, same tournament, same gym, same result.

For the second consecutive season, the Estancia High boys

basketball team (8-1) defeated the Western Pioneers (8-2) in the

final of the Garden Grove Tournament at Garden Grove High.

This year’s marquee featured two teams who play staunch defense,

but it was the Eagles who figured out how to penetrate what the

Pioneers threw at them in the fourth quarter and go on to a 45-38

victory Saturday night.

Last year’s championship came down to clutch free throws for the

Eagles to pull out a one-point victory and though the spread in this

year’s game was greater, the score remained close throughout.

“Every time we play this team it’s like old-fashioned basketball

like the movie “Hoosiers,” said Estancia Coach Chris Sorce. “It’s

like Hickory vs. another team like Hickory. It’s good hard-nosed

basketball with two teams that show a lot of class.”

Estancia’s Carlos Pinto gained Tournament Most Valuable Player

recognition and scored a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards.

Saturday’s performance followed his 35-point outburst Friday against

Whitney in the tournament semifinals.

“It was a hard game with a loud crowd but we played hard and came

out with a win,” said the 6-foot-4 sophomore. “Everyone stepped up

and played their hearts out when they needed to.”

Reserve shooting guard Tyler Hoffman provided a spark off the

bench once again for the Eagles in the tournament, answering a

Western three-pointer with one of his own to give the Eagles a 34-33

lead 20 seconds into the fourth quarter. Hoffman would hit another

three to give the Eagles a 43-38 lead with three minutes to go and

Western went cold from the field after that, going 0 for 4 in the

final 1:56 of the game, all on missed three-pointers.

Against Garden Grove earlier in the tournament Hoffman hit all

three of his three-point attempts to help the Eagles clinch a 62-58

victory to advance to the tournament semifinals.

“This game was harder than the Garden Grove game because Western

has the best defense we have seen and it was really a challenge,”

Hoffman said. “I’m ready to shoot all the time. Usually I’ll look to

pass inside but I’m ready to step it up if I have to.”

Hoffman and starting center Joey Lindquist finished with seven and

six points, respectively, all in the final period.

“I’ve got to throw around down there and show them that I am

bigger and stronger,” said Lindquist about his positioning for two

layups in the final period. “I got position to help the guards get

the ball into my teammates.”

Estancia’s offensive sets were keyed by a smothering defense

scheme that Sorce changed from man-to-man in the beginning of the

game to a 2-3 and then to a 3-2.

“To hold them to 38 points is doing something right,” Sorce said.

The Eagles held the Pioneers to 17-of-51 shooting, including going

8 for 30 over the final two quarters. The Pioneers went 6 for 22 from

three-point range, four of those coming off the hot hand of Kvon

Tucker, who finished with a team-leading 14 points.

Every starter scored for the Eagles, who got solid contributions

from starting guards Zack Novak (six points on 3-of-4 shooting) and

Matt Cachola, who scored seven points and had four assists.

Cachola added three steals, two coming in the third quarter that

led to layups for Pinto and junior Jordan Stroman, who grabbed six

rebounds.

Both layups got the Eagles to within one at the time. Estancia

eventually took a 24-23 lead with 4:50 to go in the third period on a

put back by starting forward Scott Sankey. A three by Western gave

the Pioneers a two-point lead on the ensuing possession but Sankey

came right back with a feed to Novak for an easy lay-in and the game

was knotted at 26.

The Eagles’ first basket, a trey by Cachola, came with 4:49 left

in the first period to cut the Western lead to 5-3. The Pioneer’s

largest lead after that came at 10-5 following a Jose Estrada three.

Cachola found a cutting Novak for a layup and Pinto hit his only

three in five attempts to get the Eagles within two at the end of one

quarter.

The Eagles committed turnovers on four consecutive possessions in

the second period but the Pioneers managed merely four points to gain

a 21-17 lead at the 3:05 mark before both teams went scoreless from

the field the rest of the quarter.

Estancia finished the game 16-for-40 shooting, going 10 of 22 in

the second half.

Novak and Hoffman were selected to the all-tournament team as the

Eagles continue their early-season success.

“If you would have told me we’d be 8-1 after nine games I would

have thought you were crazy,” Sorce said. “They have responded to the

challenge so far.”