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.