Estancia shooters slumber

Barry Faulkner

The Estancia High boys basketball team couldn’t seem to find the

snooze button on the alarm sounded early by Aliso Niguel in Friday’s

La Quinta tournament semifinal at La Quinta High.

But even more problematic for the Eagles, was their inability to

find their shooting range, as they were handed a 55-32 defeat that

first-year coach Jason Simco believes will act as a wake-up call.

“This humbles us,” Simco said of the team’s first loss in three

games.

The Eagles play Fountain Valley tonight at 6:30 in the third-place

game at La Quinta.

It’s hard, of course, to be self-assured when you have stretches

of 10:06 and 5:13 in which you cannot produce a field goal.

Estancia, in fact, went the final 7:22 of the first half without a

single point, allowing the Wolverines (5-0) to build a 35-13

intermission edge.

The drought continued for the Eagles after halftime, before senior

Carlos Pinto triggered a 10-2 run with an eight-foot runner with 4:34

left in the third period.

By then, however, there was just too much deficit to overcome.

“I told our guys, coming in, that if we held [the Wolverines] to

55 points or less, we’d have a good chance to win,” Simco said. “I

guess I was wrong.”

The Eagles made just 4 of 22 field-goal attempts in the first two

quarters (18.2%), then went the first 2:33 of the third quarter

without a point, while committing four of their 18 turnovers.

So, despite Pinto’s 13-point third-quarter flurry, the Eagles were

down, 50-28, heading into a fourth quarter that became extended

garbage time.

Pinto, scoreless in the first half, finished with 17 to pace the

Eagles. His scoring output also kept pace with UCLA-bound Aliso

senior Michael Roll, who had 12 points before halftime.

Roll, however, had a game-high 10 rebounds to help the winners

earn a 46-22 advantage in that department.

Estancia made 6 of 9 field-goal tries in the third quarter, but

still finished 12 of 44 for the game (27.3%).

Conversely, Aliso made 19 of 43 from the field (44.2%), before

their subs cut into that efficiency in the final quarter.

The Wolverines also had 20 turnovers, as Estancia resorted to

full-court pressure to try to come from behind.

“We should have played a lot harder,” said Simco, who lamented the

fact that Aliso out-hustled his unit, despite holding a big lead.

Aliso, indeed, deserves much of the credit for Estancia’s

struggles. The Sea View League squad has now outscored its opponents,

317-164, this season.

*--*

La Quinta tournament

Semifinal Aliso Niguel 55, Estancia 32

Score by Quarters

Estancia 10 3 15 4 -- 32

A. Niguel 19 16 15 5 -- 55

Estancia -- Pinto 17, McDaniels 0, Montillo 3,

Sh. Markey 3, Verrette 2, Escobedo 5, Kopp 2,

Fryslie 0, Argumedo 0, McKendry 0, Hart 0, Sc.

Markley 0, Molina 0, Quintero 0. 3-pt. goals

-- Pinto 1, Sh. Markley 1, Montillo 1,

Escobedo 1. Fouled out -- Montillo. Technicals

-- None. Aliso Niguel -- Roll 17, Griffin 8,

Green 13, Zanolli 10, Zierer 3, Young 2,

Margolis 2. 3-pt. goals -- Roll 2, Zanolli 2,

Green 1, Zierer 1. Fouled out -- None.

Technicals -- None.

*--*