Estancia drops 51-43 decision to Edison

Bryce Alderton

A third-place finish in the Estancia Coast Classic hardly came

easy for the Edison High boys basketball team Monday night against

the Eagles playing in their own gym.

No, Estancia (10-3), the designated home team, made the Chargers

(9-2) earn their 51-43 win at the free-throw line. Edison converted

15 of 22 shots from the line while Estancia only attempted two and

missed both.

The Eagles tightened up on defense in the second half, cooling

down the Chargers to 5-of-14 shooting (35.7%) compared to an

11-for-17 clip (64%) in the first half, to help cut the Edison lead

to 41-36 with 4:56 to go in the fourth on a Jordan Stroman bank shot.

But two consecutive layups by Billy Braun, Edison’s leading scorer

coming into the game (15.1), increased the Charger lead to nine with

2:37 left and Estancia was forced to foul to stop the clock from

there on in.

Estancia’s Joey Lindquist grabbed 10 rebounds to go with nine

points and was an imposing factor in the post, especially in the

second half, for Coach Chris Sorce. The Eagle coach said the game

turned when he decided to sit the 6-foot-7 senior with 3:45 to go in

the second quarter.

“I was going to put him back with 2:30 left but I didn’t want him

to pick up his third foul,” Sorce said. “We tried to ride it out and

make it close until halftime. We had a lot of unforced errors

tonight, a poor job of handling the ball.”

Estancia committed 19 turnovers, 10 in the first half, and on four

consecutive possessions in the early stages of the third period as

Edison built an 11-point lead until Scott Sankey found Lindquist

underneath the hoop for a layup with 3:53 left cut the lead to nine.

The basket marked the first Estancia field goal of the quarter.

Edison Coach Rich Boyce, the former head man at Estancia from

1994-98, said Lindquist proved something to him Monday night.

“To their credit Joey rebounded very well, he was grabbing all of

them in the first quarter,” Boyce said. “(Estancia) played very

well.”

Carlos Pinto led the Eagles with 13 points, nine coming in the

first quarter on 3-of-7 shooting.

Matt Cachola had three assists to go with 11 points.

Lindquist and Cachola both earned All-Tournament honors for their

performances.

Also in the Coast Classic at Estancia:

Corona del Mar 65, Glendale Hoover 57 -- Three wins in a row

propelled the Sea Kings to a consolation championship with the

victory win over Hoover.

The Sea Kings (6-8) led by 21 points in the third quarter and held

on to the lead, hitting on 7 of 10 from the foul line in the final

5:46.

All-Tournament selection Pancho Seaborn led the Sea Kings with 21

points, 12 of those coming on three-point baskets, and Adam Freede

chipped in 16 points for Corona.

“It came down to hitting free throws if you want to win the game,”

said CdM Coach Ryan Curry. “We did the things we needed to be

successful like forcing them to shoot tough from the perimeter, get

good shots on our end and we rebounded.”

Compton 58, Costa Mesa 44 -- Costa Mesa fell to Compton in a

consolation game at the Orange Holiday Classic at Chapman University.

Danny Krikorian led Mesa’s game with 21 points. Mesa drops to 4-9.

In high school girls’ action Monday:

Tustin 52, Costa Mesa 46 -- Tustin went on a 20-6 run to close

out the game and Costa Mesa’s chances for a consolation championship

in the Costa Mesa Girls Basketball Tournament at Mesa.

The Mustangs (7-6) led 40-32 with five minutes remaining in the

fourth quarter before Tustin made its run, led by All-Tournament

selection Kristina Curtis’ game-high 27 points.

Seniors Rhondi Naff and Stacee Sanchez finished with 18 and 16

points, respectively. Naff hit on 13 of 32 from the field while

Sanchez drained 4 of 11 from behind the arc. Senior Rickell Reeves

shot 3 of 6 from the field for six points

Corona del Mar 48, Santiago 46 -- Kelliann Klein hit five threes

en route to 18 points and Madison Otterbein scored 16 points as CdM rallied to improve to 3-7 in the first round of pool play at the

Santiago Tournament in Garden Grove. Kate Heeschen was the catalyst

of the second-half comeback, limiting Santiago’s chief weapon to four

points after a 13-point effort in the first half in a triangle and

two defense.

Rosemead 49, Estancia 42 -- Xochitl Byfield and Tisha Gray scored

16 and 15 points, respectively, but a short-handed Estancia High

girls basketball team fell to Rosemead, 49-42, in a consolation game

of the Canyon Tournament at Canyon High.

Byfield and Gray accounted for more than 75% of the scoring for

the Eagles (5-8), who had just six available players and finished the

game with four players, after two fouled out.

In college women’s action Monday:

UC Irvine 86, Portland State 64 -- Wendy Gabbe tied her

career-high with 26 points to lead UC Irvine to an easy 86-64 victory

over Portland State at the Bren Events Center.

Nikki Petticrew opened the game with a three-pointer, but that was

the only lead Portland State (4-6) would have as UCI built a 48-30

lead by halftime. Gabbe was 10 for 16 from the field, including a

4-for-6 effort from three-point range. Kristen Green had a

season-high 16 points and tied her career-high with seven assists.

Southern Nazarene 71, Vanguard 48 -- The Vanguard Lions (8-6)

could not stay with Southern Nazarene University (10-2) as the latter

bolted to an easy victory in the GSAC Challenge at The Master’s

College in Santa Clarita. Robbin Dittenbir was the only Lion in

double figures with 15 points.

In community college women’s action:

Orange Coast 54, Chaffey 34 -- Alisa Carrillo scored 18 points to

pave the way for OCC, which improved to 14-3 with the easy victory in

the Coast-Cerritos New Year’s Classic on the winner’s floor, although

the Pirates’ shooting was way off to the tune of 30.4% (17 for 56).

In college men’s basketball:

Saint Ambrose (Iowa) 86, Vanguard 69) -- Saint Ambrose used a

balanced attack to subdue the Lions in a nonconference game. Tom

Pavljasevic led all scorers with 22 points for the winners (7-8).

Vanguard, which fell to 4-7, was paced by Josh Pierson, who had 16

points, including four of eight three-point attempts, and Brendan

Cotter, who had 10 points.