Eagles’ cohesion pays off in semifinal victory

Rick Devereux

There is one thing a coach cannot teach his or her players --

experience.

The Estancia High boys basketball team is gaining lots of

experience and starting to play with more cohesion.

That was evident as the Eagles (6-1) beat Calvary Chapel of Santa

Ana, 59-51, in the semifinals of the Garden Grove tournament Friday

at Santiago High.

Estancia, which has won this tournament two of the last three

years, plays Santa Ana Valley in the final at 7:30 tonight at Garden

Grove High.

“[Our team] is starting to get the feel of how to play together,

especially on defense,” first-year coach Jason Simco said. “We need

to get a little better on offense.”

Senior Carlos Pinto had a game-high 26 points, 15 coming in the second half.

“We were just OK in the first half,” Simco said. “At the half I

told Carlos we needed him to step up. He just took over in the second

half.”

One particular series in the fourth quarter showcased how much

Pinto took over the game. With less than four minutes remaining,

Pinto stole the ball off a Calvary Chapel dribble and scored on a

layup. As Calvary Chapel was bringing the ball up the court, Pinto

stepped in front of a pass and took off for another apparent layin.

He was fouled and made both free throws to extend Estancia’s lead to

57-37 with 3:17 remaining.

“The win feels nice,” Pinto said. “Our defense was the key to the

victory. We pressured them and made them throw bad passes.”

The pressure defense of the Eagles seemed to confuse their

opponents, also nicknamed the “Eagles.”

Calvary Chapel routinely got trapped by Estancia’s defense and was

forced to call timeouts. Senior guard Ray Verrette was particularly

active on the defensive end.

“We knew who their two big scorers were and we wanted to slow them

down,” Simco said. “Ray is our shut down guy. He enjoys the challenge

of trying to stop our opponent’s best player.”

Verrette was matched up mostly against Ben Coursen. Coursen scored

15 points, but only six in the second half. Calvary Chapel was led by

Caleb Burgess’ 18 points.

Junior guard Shaun Markley contributed a season-high 12 points for

Estancia.

“Shaun stepped up nicely [Friday],” Simco said. “I think our

seniors really took over. I told them at half to step it up and they

did.”

Estancia had a 28-20 lead at the half but went on a 6-0 run to

start the third quarter to take a 34-21 lead. Calvary Chapel was held

scoreless for the first 2:53 of the second half.

*--*

Garden Grove tournament

Semifinal Estancia 59, Calvary Chapel of

Santa Ana 51

Score by Quarters

CC 11 17 13 17 - 51

Est 7 13 16 15 -- 59

Calvary Chapel -- Goodfriend 6, Coursen 15,

Burgess 18, Fierro 8, Gomez 2, Stewart 2,

Barragan 0, Graves 0. 3-pt. goals --

Goodfriend 2. Estancia -- Pinto 26, Sh.

Markley 12, Kopp 9, Verrette 4, Montillo 4,

Sc. Markley 2, Escobedo 2, McDaniels 0,

Argumedo 0, Molina 0, Hart 0, Quintero 0,

Fryslie 0, McKendry 0. 3-pt. goals -- Pinto

2, Sh. Markley 1, Kopp 1. Technicals -- Pinto.

*--*