Eagles roll into semis

Barry Faulkner

To everything, there is a season. And, seemingly, for every basket

made by the Estancia High boys basketball team, there is an assist.

The unselfish Eagles exploited the Anaheim defense with passing

Friday to earn a 62-51 victory in the quarterfinals of the Estancia

Coast Classic that wasn’t nearly that close.

Estancia (10-1) led, 58-27, with 7:30 left in the game, before

mass substitutions and some hot shooting by the Colonists pared the

deficit to a respectable sum.

It was the ninth straight win for Estancia, Friday’s designated

visitor in its own gym, propelling the Eagles into tonight’s 6:25

semifinal against Trabuco Hills.

Edison meets Villa Park in the other semifinal at 8 p.m.

After building a 21-10 first-quarter lead, the Eagles used an 11-0

second-quarter burst to expand the edge to 37-16 at halftime.

The Eagles, getting points in transition and patiently picking

apart the Anaheim zone defense for easy baskets, went on a 12-0 run

in the third quarter, prompting Coach Chris Sorce to go to the bench.

“Our intensity went flat and we got complacent toward the end of

the third quarter,” Sorce said. “When you’ve won 10 games and you’re

on a nine-game winning streak, the expectations get a little higher

when it comes to the caliber of your play. We got a little sloppy and

let them get a little closer on the scoreboard.”

Estancia starters Joey Lindquist, Carlos Pinto, Zack Novak and

Matt Cachola were on their game Friday. Lindquist had a team-high 17

points, hitting all eight field-goal attempts. Pinto was 7 of 10 from

the field to collect 15 points, also adding six rebounds and four

assists, while Novak hit 6 of 8 from the field en route to a

career-high 14 points. He also chipped in five assits and three

steals. Cachola had seven assists and four points for the winners,

off to the school’s best start since the 1995-96 squad opened 12-1.

Junior forward Scott Sankey contributed five points and five

boards, while junior Jordan Stroman posted four points, five rebounds

and two steals off the bench.

The Eagles hit 24 of 35 field-goal attempts through three quarters

(68.6%), before finishing 28 of 44 (63.6%). Estancia, however,

committed nine of its 21 turnovers in the final eight minutes.

Anaheim (2-11) was a paltry 10 of 31 from the field (32.3%),

before nailing 9 of 13 in the final quarter to finish 19 of 44

(43.2%).

Anaheim sophomore guard German MacBenntez, a 5-9 reserve, scored

16 of his game-high 18 points in the final quarter to rally the

Colonists. MacBenntez connected on 6 of 7 field-goal attempts,

including all three of his three-pointers in the period, to force

Sorce to put Sankey and Novak back in the game with 1:47 left.

Estancia opened leads of 7-0 and 11-3, with eight of its first

nine field goals being layups. The Eagles converted five more layups

in the second quarter and seven more in the third period.

One third-quarter possession typified how smoothly things were

going for the Eagles, as a pass to Lindquist at the high post,

ricocheted under the basket to Pinto, who caught the ball and dropped

it in, off the backboard to force Anaheim Coach Bob Hawking, once the

head man at Cal State Fullerton, to call a timeout.