Eagles blitzed

Steve Virgen

There was a mountain before them, even before the tip-off. And, so

they started to climb.

The Estancia High Eagles faced great odds, and yet made progress

early in their second round CIF Southern Section Division III-A

playoff game at Bishop Montgomery.

The Estancia boys basketball team earned an 8-2 lead with 5:30

remaining in the first half, but then the avalanche came. The Eagles

went scoreless over the next 10 minutes, and the Knights, the

division’s No. 1 seed, went on a 22-0 run, that featured nine

straight points in the first 90 seconds of the second quarter.

Bishop Montgomery (26-1) rolled to its 23rd straight win with a

73-37 victory over Estancia Friday night. There was shock, and the

Knights’ dominance was almost laughable.

“It was 8-2, and so we tried to turn the electric box to turn the

lights out, but we didn’t get there in time,” Estancia Coach Chris

Sorce quipped. “They had a blitz, an avalanche. There’s a reason

they’re the No. 1 seed. They have one of the best players in the

state and he showed that tonight.”

That player in reference, Fred Washington, scored 12 points on

6-of-9 shooting from the field. Washington, a senior bound for

Stanford, left the crowd buzzing with a few acrobatic moves and slam

dunks. The Knights were led by Brandon Peace, who scored 23 points on

11 of 14 shots from the field. Peace is the younger brother of

DeVaughn, a redshirt freshman who plays for UC Irvine.

Senior Joey Lindquist led Estancia (17-12) with eight points. He

scored four points in the Eagles’ early 8-2 spurt.

“Honest to God, I was thinking these guys (Bishop Montgomery) are

overrated,” Lindquist said. “But I look at the scoreboard now and I

don’t feel the same. It was nice to get a lead like that just for a

pride sake.”

The Knights broke away from the Eagles with an effective

full-court press defense. Bishop Montgomery built a 24-8 lead, until

senior Zack Novak broke the Estancia scoring drought. He scored in

the paint after a nice feed from senior point guard Matt Cachola.

However, the Knights still went on to take a 30-12 lead at

halftime. Then, they opened the third quarter with nine unanswered

points. Estancia made just one shot from the field in the third

quarter, and was outscored 23-6 in the eight minutes.

Washington had three dunks, including one on a breakaway from his

own steal.