Faulkner Is Looking to Bounce Back : Pacific Coast: Estancia’s 6-foot-4 guard hopes to reap the benefits of his summer of hard work . . . and even harder knocks.

COSTA MESA â€”  Estancia High’s Jim Faulkner could have relaxed by the pool all summer. Or maybe gone to the beach and taken it easy.

Sorry, not his style.

Faulkner was a basketball junkie last summer, playing in summer leagues, all-star camps, lifting weights and playing pickup ball.

“I’m a gym rat,� said Faulkner, the Eagles’ 6-foot-4 guard. “I wasn’t getting home until 10 at night last summer.

“I played in 40 or 50 games, lifted, played in the park, went to Slam-N-Jam league.�

Faulkner hopes to reap some benefits this season from his hard work. But he looks back on the summer and shakes his head.

At times, everything that could go wrong, did.

He pulled a muscle in his rib cage during a traveling team tournament in Las Vegas, sprained his left ankle in a pickup game and his right ankle during a summer-league game against Mater Dei.

“I’m still not healthy,� he said. “I’m still all beat up.�

The Las Vegas trip turned out to be a disaster.

Faulkner and his 11 teammates jammed into a van for a drive from Las Vegas to another tournament in Phoenix. The van broke down in the middle of the desert, and the players ended up pushing it several miles to a service station.

“It was 110 degrees out there,� Faulkner said. “We played terrible in Phoenix. We had been scrunched up in a van for 12 hours.�

After the Phoenix tournament Faulkner and Huntington Beach’s Matt Ambrose decided they had enough. They rationed their food allowance to buy plane tickets home.

“We couldn’t take another day in that van,� Faulkner said. “We didn’t eat for two days, but we saved enough money to fly home.

“We had to borrow $20 from Matt’s uncle down there to fly home. We had a dollar left over, and split a Coke.�

Faulkner fared better closer to home. He played in the prestigious ABCD Camp at UC Irvine with several of the nation’s top players.

“It was a tough camp,� he said. “There were supers from around here against the supers from around the country. A lot of the guys back East blew us out of the water.

“I think I was a little out of place at that camp. Once I passed the ball, I never got it back.�

But Laguna Beach Coach Bret Fleming was impressed when he saw Faulkner at the ABCD camp.

“He fared well there,� Fleming said. “They had him playing out of position for a while, inbounding the ball and trailing the play. Once they moved him to shooting guard, he played well.

“He’s so tough to defend because he’s 6-4 and can handle the ball. He can post up and shoot outside. Everyone has a hard time with him.�

Faulkner, who has signed with Southern Utah State, averaged 15 points per game last season for Estancia’s 25-8 team that reached the Southern Section and Southern California regional finals.

Most of his scoring came on open outside shots when opponents double-teamed 6-7 Matt Fuerbringer inside.

But this year, it will be Faulkner, the Eagles’ only returning starter, who’ll be double-teamed.

“Last year, I would just shoot the jumper,� Faulkner said. “I’ll get double-teamed this year, and somebody else will be open. I figure I’ll get a lot more assists.�

Tim Parsel, Estancia’s first-year coach, said Faulkner will need to do it all.

“He’s our best ballhandler, best scorer, best rebounder and best passer,� Parsel said. “We will have to make sure he touches the ball on every possession. He’ll have to carry us. I think he can. He’s a tough kid.�