Eagles, Pinto take final bow

Barry Faulkner

In the final hurrah of a four-year varsity career those who witnessed

will find hard to forget, Estancia High senior Carlos Pinto, with the

help of a largely first-year varsity coaching staff and a band of

overachieving teammates, made Eagles’ parents, alumni and boosters

remember.

“I’ve had a lot of alumni tell me ‘That’s the way I remember

[Estancia basketball],’ ” said Coach Jason Simco, himself just four

seasons removed from wearing an Estancia uniform and a self-confessed

Eagle hoops junkie since 1991.

This year’s Eagles, seeded No. 6, finally bowed out with an 81-46

loss to visiting No. 2-seeded Harvard-Westlake in a CIF Southern

Section Division III-A semifinal Friday at Edison High.

The Wolverines (24-3), winners of three straight Southern Section

titles and 18 consecutive section playoff games, move on to play for

their seventh section title in the last 10 seasons.

But Estancia’s 23-6 record, outright Golden West League title, and

its first two playoff wins since 1998, took away the need for

nostalgia for those who relished a once-proud program that routinely

played deep into the postseason.

As the final seconds ticked off Friday, most of the Estancia

faithful rose to their feet to give their team a grateful ovation.

The same applause rained down on Pinto just seconds before, when

Simco called a timeout with 57 seconds remaining for the sole purpose

of allowing him a well-deserved, solo curtain-call exit.

In his final Estancia game, the 6-foot-4 senior fittingly led the

Eagles with 19 points and 11 rebounds. He averaged 20.5 points this

season, 26 in the playoffs, and finished with 1,538 career points.

“I was thinking [Friday] of what I was going to say about Carlos

after the game,” Simco said. “But, honestly, there isn’t anything

that hasn’t already been said. Carlos basically kept this program

alive by himself. He has been very underrated for four years, in

terms of recognition from the rest of Orange County. He’s a great

player and a great kid.”

Pinto and his mates, however, ran into a greater team Friday. The

Wolverines, whose only losses this season are to City Section power

Taft of Woodland Hills and Loyola of Los Angeles, the No. 4 seed in

Division II-AA (twice), scored the game’s first 14 points and,

seemingly, kept pulling away from there.

Coach Greg Hilliard’s deep and youthful squad -- with only one

senior starter and only one more among its top eight players --

surprised the Eagles with its outside shooting.

“We had two [game] tapes on them and they made three

three-pointers in those two games combined,” said Simco, who watched

the visitors drain six of their eight three balls in the first half,

including 4 of 8 from threedom in the opening period.

Freshman point guard Ryan Merkle, about whom Simco instructed his

defenders to back off, was 3 for 3 from beyond the arc in the first

eight minutes.

“I told my guys, if [Merkle] was going to beat us, then I’d gladly

take the loss,” said Simco, whose team had other problems against the

taller, quicker, more athletic Mission League champions.

Harvard-Westlake outrebounded the Eagles, 45-31, including 17

offensive boards.

Alex Stepheson, a 6-9 junior who came in averaging 17.3 points,

13.8 rebounds and 3.7 blocks and collected 21, 17, and 12,

respectively for his first triple-double of the season in a

quarterfinal win Tuesday, had just eight points. But his 15 rebounds

and three blocked shots helped underscore the Wolverines’ dominance.

Asked if they played them 10 times, if Estancia would win one,

Simco went even further.

“Nah, one out of 50,” he said.

Still, Simco had nothing but praise for this year’s team, which

also includes seniors Ray Verrette, Hugo Escobedo, Rafael Montillo,

Danny Argumedo, Jose Molina, Tom Fryslie, Bryce McKendrey and Jesse

Hart.

“We were picked by the coaches to finish fourth in league,” Simco

said. “23-6 definitely exceeded my expectations.”

And what of building off this season of renewal.

“We return [starters Mike McDaniels, Shaun Markley and Dallas

Kopp],” Simco said with a smile.

CIF Division III-A

Semifinal

Harvard-Westlake 81,

Estancia 46

Score by Quarters

*--*

H-Westlake 21 18 15 27 -- 81

Estancia 7 13 9 17 -- 46

*--*

Harvard-Westlake -- Stepheson 8, Jaques 14, White 7, Ramsey 15,

Merkle 15, Kelly 5, Shapiro 5, Sabastian 4, Dunleavy 4, Schwada 3, Ma

1.

3-pt. goals -- Merkle 3, Jaques 1, Ramsey 1, White 1, Kelly 1,

Dunleavy 1.

Fouled out -- White.

Estancia -- C. Pinto 19, McDaniels 6, Kopp 7, Sh. Markley 0,

Verrette 4, Escobedo 4, McKendry 2, Hart 2, B. Pinto 1, Fryslie 1.

3-pt. goals -- McDaniels 2, C. Pinto 1.