Estancia dominates the Lions
Bryce Alderton
The Estancia High boys basketball team didn’t rest on its laurels
Tuesday night against visiting Westminster in a Golden West League
game.
Leading, 57-21, at the break, the Eagles (14-7, 4-3 in league)
shot better in the final two periods (52% compared to 48.3% in the
first half) and routed the Lions (3-16, 0-7) for the second time this
season, 73-33. The Eagles beat the Lions by 36 Jan. 6.
“Competition,” said the Eagles’ Jordan Stroman when asked what
kept the team motivated with the big lead. “We always want to do
better than the last game. We wanted to beat them by more than (36).”
The Eagles beat the Lions, coached by former Corona del Mar High
girls basketball coach Elbert Davis, in nearly every facet of
Tuesday’s game, limiting the visitors to just five first-half field
goals. Estancia outrebounded the visitors, 35-12, committed eight
fewer turnovers and shot better (50.9% to 38.2%). The Eagles used a
full-court press -- at times positioning four defenders within the
Lions’ zone -- to create errant passes.
The Eagles used runs of 13-0 and 12-0 in the first and second
periods, respectively, and led by 41 twice in the final quarter.
Scott Sankey scored a career-high 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting and
grabbed 10 rebounds.
Stroman contributed 13 points, also a career-high, on 6 of 6 from
the field, including two two-handed dunks that woke up the crowd of
about 200. The first dunk followed one of Westminster’s 21 turnovers.
Carlos Pinto corralled a mishandled pass and whipped the ball to
starting guard Matt Cachola. Cachola had no one in front of him --
only Stroman to his right -- and the lob pass found the 6-foot-4
junior gliding in the air for the slam to make it 44-11 with 5:37
remaining in the first half.
Cachola nearly doubled his assists-per-game average (5.7 coming
into Tuesday’s game, good for eighth in the county) with 11 against
the Lions, and collected five first-half points to go with six
rebounds.
“We kind of keep him under wraps with three-point shooting, trying
to be disciplined and throwing it into the big guys,” said Eagles’
Coach Chris Sorce. “(Cachola) has stepped up, pulling boards and
turning his defense up a notch.”
Zack Novak went 5 of 8 from the field and finished with 13 points
and Pinto tallied nine points, four rebounds and two assists. Erik
Andersen started and had four boards, two steals and two points.
The Eagles’ bench of Stroman, Joey Lindquist (10 points, eight rebounds), Tyler Hoffman (five points and three assists) and Kendall
Meissner (one point) outscored Westminster’s, 29-6.
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