Swanson leads Costa Mesa boys’ basketball past Estancia

Costa Mesa High dominated on the offensive boards to build a 25-point lead early in the second quarter of Wednesday night’s Battle for the Bell boys’ basketball showdown with archrival Estancia.

Then the Mustangs weathered a stunning Estancia comeback to claim a 69-64 home victory that keeps them in the hunt for the Orange Coast League title.

Ben Swanson hit three three-pointers and finished with 19 points to go with 10 rebounds for the Mustangs (10-8, 4-1 in league). Costa Mesa remained within a game of first-place Laguna Beach (20-3, 5-0) midway through the league slate with a gritty victory that was far more difficult than it looked like it would be.

Estancia (13-8, 2-3), which fell to fourth place, a game behind Godinez (12-11, 3-2), rallied to tie the score in the third quarter before Costa Mesa pulled away and then withstood another late rally.

“I tip my hat to them. They’re a good team,” Mustangs coach Mike Ofer said. “It wasn’t pretty, but that’s usually what a rivalry game does, right? Ben Swanson has a great game tonight. [He] made some shots for us. And we’re young. We’ve got to learn as to what to do at the end of a game. We battled and got the win, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Nico Dasca scored 17 points for Costa Mesa, and Tre Villalpando added 15. George Williamson came up big on the boards, grabbing six of his 11 rebounds in the first quarter, three on the offensive end as Costa Mesa scored 15 second-chance points in the first eight minutes.

Three-pointers by Dasca and Alonso Garcialazo to start the second quarter pushed the Mustangs’ lead to 27-12 before Estancia, primarily through Cameron Jones, went on a 29-14 run to tie the score at 41-41. Mason Richards’ three-pointer with 2½ minutes to go in the third quarter evened things up.

Ofer switched from a zone to a man-to-man defense, and Costa Mesa went ahead for good on two Dasca free throws. Two baskets by Swanson — the second a three-pointer just before the buzzer — gave the Mustangs an eight-point edge heading to the fourth quarter, and they extended it to 13 in the first two minutes of the final period and to 15 after another Swanson three-pointer with 2:46 to go.

Estancia wasn’t done. The Eagles scored the last 10 points as Costa Mesa missed all five of its free-throws down the stretch and turned the ball over twice but couldn’t get closer than five.

“The first quarter killed us,” Estancia coach Xavier Castellano said. “You’ve got to give it to Ben Swanson. He played a great game. He made the shots.”

Jones scored 19 to lead the Eagles. Jackson Winters added 16 points plus nine rebounds, and Alex Hendricks scored 13 and Mason Richards 12.

“We’re by ourselves in second place, which set up great the second half of league for us,” said Ofer, whose team grabbed 14 offensive boards and had a 25-5 edge in second-chance points. “We’ve got a lead [on everybody but Laguna Beach], and that’s what you want. We put ourselves in position if we can stay that way, then the game against Laguna here [on Feb. 2] will mean a lot.

“Got to take it one game at a time, but we needed this one, because [Estancia] will be right there, too. They’re a lot better than [their league record].”

SCOTT FRENCH is a contributor to Times Community News. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottJFrench