Athlete of the Week: Jon Cantrell

Tony Altobelli

When a baseball player is on a hitting streak, they describe the

baseball being the size of a basketball when it crosses the plate.

For Estancia High boys basketball shooting guard, Jon Cantrell,

hitting a three-pointer must be like throwing a quarter into the Grand

Canyon.

“I was in,” Cantrell said of that infamous “zone” that players go into

when they’re hot. “I don’t know what happened. It all just clicked in for

me.”

Estancia competed in the Irvine World News Classic last week and

finished in third place, winning three of the four games played.

Cantrell scored 80 points, including 22 three-pointers in that

four-game stretch. During that shooting tear, he also surpassed the

Eagles’ school record with nine three-pointers in the 71-65 loss to

Nogales on Friday. The previous mark was seven set by Peter Andersen last

December.

“It’s funny, because I didn’t feel comfortable during practice,”

Cantrell said. “Once I started playing, everything felt right.”

Cantrell’s nine treys also tied the Newport-Mesa District record with

Costa Mesa High’s Ryan Naff, who set the mark on Dec. 13 against Savanna.

Despite injuring his wrist in the first quarter of Saturday’s 61-48

win against Irvine, Cantrell still managed to hit six three-pointers and

finished the game with 24 points.

“It hurt real bad early in the game,” Cantrell said. “But it felt fine

when I kept playing. I must have been blocking the pain out of my mind.”

After being held to only eight points against Mark Keppel High in game

one of the tournament, Cantrell averaged nearly 26 points and seven

three-pointers per game the rest of the tourney.

“My goal is to not be labeled as a ‘streaky’ shooter,” Cantrell said.

“I’m working hard in practice to try to get as consistent as possible.”

For Cantrell, his love for the long-range bomb has a different motto:

The longer, the better.

“For some reason, I can’t shoot right at the three-point line,”

Cantrell admitted. “People ask me, ‘why don’t you shoot closer to the

line?’ I just feel more comfortable if I’m way behind the line. I can’t

explain it.”

Does that faze the coach, Rich Bryce? Not at all.

“His 22-footer is like a 10-footer for some ball players. Jon is just

a very confident ball player,” Boyce said. “No matter what the situation

is, Jon is the kind of kid who wants the ball and will try to find a way

to win.”

Something that might explain Cantrell’s hot hand is his work ethic,

both in and out of Eagles’ practice.

“I’ll come in an hour before practice and shoot around and I’ll stick

around a little after practice,” Cantrell said. “About three hours or so

a day, plus playing on the weekend with my friends. So far, it’s working

for me. I hope I can keep it going to help the team win.”

Playing basketball since he was five, Cantrell has played three years

of varsity basketball with the Eagles since transferring from Costa Mesa

High his freshman year.

“It’s been great playing with all my friends that I grew up with,”

Cantrell said. “There’s guys on this team I played on club teams with.”

Along with long-range shooting partner, senior Jason Simco, the Eagles

(7-4) have a solid one-two punch from the outside.

“Jason and I always want to make ourselves better out there,” Cantrell

said. “If one of us is off, it’s nice to know that the other guy will

pick up the slack. But if we’re both on, look out.”

Cantrell was a second-team, All-Pacific Coast League selection last

year, averaging 11.8 points a game.

After two years wearing jersey No. 3, Cantrell switched to No. 23.

Why?

“I wore No. 23 growing up and our old uniforms didn’t have a No. 23 so

I wore something with a 3 in it,” Cantrell said. “Also, I’m a huge

Michael Jordan fan and if you add up all the letters in my full name,

Jonathan Michael Cantrell, it adds up to 23.”

Now is the time for the Eagles, according to Cantrell, whose Eagles’

team lost in the first round of the CIF Southern Section playoffs to

Chaminade, 58-34, last year.

With 10 seniors on the squad, it HAS to be the time. “We’ve been

waiting for this since we were sophomores,” Cantrell said. “We couldn’t

wait for our senior year. We’re all good friends and we all have a lot of

fun together. I think we have the ability to go a long way this year.”