Eagles soar to a win

Patrick Laverty

Carlos Pinto staked the Estancia High boys basketball team to a

double-digit lead Friday in the first round of the Eagles’ Coast

Classic tournament and his teammates made sure that lead stood up.

After Pinto opened the scoring with a there-pointer 20 seconds

into the contest, the Eagles never trailed on their way to a 61-48

victory over Antioch, advancing to battle Workman in the

quarterfinals at 8 tonight.

Pinto scored 11 of Estancia’s first 14 points to open an early

10-point lead, but was forced to the sideline because of foul

trouble.

With two fouls, Pinto sat out the final 2:44 of the first quarter

and the Panthers cut a 14-4 deficit to 18-13 at the end of the

period.

Pinto, who made his first six shots, including three

three-pointers, returned to the lineup at the beginning of the second

quarter as the Eagles (6-4) switched to a zone defense in the hope

that he wouldn’t pick up his third foul.

The move worked as the Eagles outscored Antioch, 13-5, in the

quarter to take a 31-18 halftime lead.

But Pinto, a junior and three-year starter who finished with 21

points, attempted to take a charge in the opening seconds of the

third quarter and was called for a blocking foul with 7:36 remaining

in the period. Once again, he went to the sidelines, a bad omen

considering the Eagles had been outscored 11-8 without him in the

game.

“We knew we needed, on the offensive end, to execute our flex

offense, work the clock and get good shots,” Estancia Coach Russell

King said. “With Carlos out, we needed to work the offense. I told

our guys, if you get a wide open shot, you have the green light. But

we wanted to get the ball inside and get to the free throw line.”

Sans Pinto, Estancia made the lead stick. They got the ball inside

to senior Scott Sankey who converted three traditional three-point

plays in the quarter and finished the game with 17 points and 16 rebounds, 10 of them in the second half after Estancia had been

outrebounded 22-15 over the first two quarters.

The Eagles also converted three other buckets inside, layups by

sophomores Mike McDaniels and Scott Markley and a leaner by junior

Hugo Escobedo. All 15 of Estancia’s third-quarter points came in the

paint or at the free-throw line after Estancia hit six of 11

three-pointers in the first half.

The work of Sankey, McDaniels, Markley, Escobedo and Jose

Viramontes extended Estancia’s lead to 43-24 before Antioch closed

the quarter with an 11-3 run. Even after that, the Eagles had played

the entire period without Pinto and still led 46-35.

“We’ve got sophomores like Dallas Kopp and [McDaniels] and it’s

good experience for them,” King said. “They need to step up their

games when Carlos is not out there. They need to be more of an

offensive threat. They need to step up and pick up the scoring.”

McDaniels, the Eagles’ third-leading scorer this year, picked up

six points in the second half and 10 in the game.

Pinto returned at the start of the fourth quarter and promptly

extended the lead to 15 points, hitting a pair of mid-range jumpers.

He missed just two of 10 shots on the night and was perfect from

three-point range, making all three shots from beyond the arc.

*--*

Coast Classic First round

Estancia 61, Antioch 48

Score by Quarters

Antioch 13 5 17 13 -- 48

Estancia 18 13 15 15 -- 61

Antioch -- Hill 5, Bryant 0, Johnson 17,

Lubina 11, Quirk 0, Pugh 6, Fisher 0, Moore

0, Langford 0, Addison 9. 3-pt. goals --

Johnson 1, Addison 1. Fouled out -- Lubina.

Technicals -- None. Estancia -- Pinto 21,

McDaniels 10, Viramontes 5, Escobedo 3,

Sankey 17, Markley 5, Kopp 0. 3-pt. goals --

Pinto 3, McDaniels 1, Markley 1, Viramontes

1. Fouled out -- None. Technicals -- None.

*--*