Markley ignites Estancia pride

Rick Devereux

No one could blame the Estancia High boys basketball team for

carrying Carlos Pinto off the court on their shoulders after the

senior made a last-second three-pointer to lift the Eagles to a 38-37

victory over Golden West foe and cross-town rival Costa Mesa. But the

player of the game might be Shaun Markley.

Markley, a junior point guard, was pivotal in sparking Estancia’s

offense. He came off the bench and hit three three-pointers in a row

and single-handedly brought the Eagles back into a game that was

starting to become a Mustang rout. His 13 points are a season-high

for him. He also scored 12 points Jan. 19 against Santa Ana. For his

efforts, Markley has been named the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week.

Mesa had pulled away to a 17-5 lead three minutes into the second

quarter when Markley was inserted. Following a Danny Argumedo basket

from the low-post, Markley went bananas from long distance.

He hit a three from the left side to close the gap to 10-17.

Then he connected on another three from the same location to make

it 19-13.

His third consecutive three made it 19-16 and gave the Eagles new

life and confidence.

“After I hit the first one, [Costa Mesa] was still giving me a lot

of room to shoot,” Markley said. “After the second one, Coach [Jason

Simco] told me to keep shooting.”

Simco is a wise man.

Markley has been on fire, and when a shooter is hot, you’ve got to

let him keep shooting. Simco credits bringing sophomore guard Blake

Pinto up from the junior varsity squad Dec. 27 as the turning point

in Markley’s season.

“Ever since then, he has woken up,” Simco said. “He has been

playing with a lot of confidence and he has been finding his shots.”

For Simco and the Eagles to achieve their goals of winning league

and advancing far into the Southern Section CIF Division, a scoring

threat other than Carlos Pinto must become available. Markley might

have solidified the tag as “scoring threat” after last week.

“I told him he needs to create shots,” Simco said. “That will help

take pressure off Carlos.”

The fact that Carlos is the main weapon suits Markley fine.

“All the teams we play know Carlos is the best player on our

team,” Markley said. “That opens up shots for the rest of us.”

But even if Pinto scores 30 points a game or hits every last

second buzzer-beater he can, Simco thinks the true engine of the team

lies elsewhere.

“I’ve said it before, we only play as well as Shaun plays,” Simco

said. “When Shaun plays well, we’re very hard to beat.”

The numbers back up that assertion.

The Eagles are 4-4 when Markley scores four points or less and

11-0 when he has six or more points. He has averaged 7.7 points per

game during Golden West League action to help give Estancia a 6-0

record in league and a one-game lead on Costa Mesa.

“The only goals I set for this season were for us to win league

and play well,” Markley said. “That Mesa game was big for us because

it put us in the driver’s seat in league.”