Estancia picks off triumph

COSTA MESA — Estancia High boys’ basketball coach Agustin Heredia didn’t much need the chalkboard, or the clipboard Friday night. Just about all that was required for the Eagles to gain a convincing victory over visiting John Glenn was the use of the Estancia Coast Classic tournament bracket.

Heredia’s ability to hand-pick the Norwalk-based school in the opener of the 16-team tournament, virtually ensured passage into today’s 6:15 p.m. quarterfinal matchup against Laguna Hills.

“It was a good game to build on and get back on the winning track,” said Heredia, whose team took advantage of some soft defense and careless ball handling by the Suburban League representative (1-8) to continually expand its lead until the final four minutes. And by that time, every Estancia starter was sitting and the game clock was, by agreement of both teams, running.

The result was a 77-33 thrashing in which the hosts (7-7) shot 56.1% from the field, including 55.6% from three-point range, and committed only seven turnovers.

With senior sharpshooter Troy McClanahan blanketed by a box-and-one defense, Estancia consistently found plenty of other open shooters. After taking a 19-2 lead, capped by a 16-0 run in a span of just less than 3 1/2 minutes, the advantage was 21-6 after one quarter, during which Estancia forced all seven of the game’s turnovers.

Estancia was 11 of 16 from the field in the second quarter to up the halftime bulge to 47-17.

A Glenn three-pointer late in the third quarter “trimmed” its deficit to 65-27 and the Estancia reserves opened the final quarter on an 8-0 run that included three-pointers by junior Ryan Cherney and senior Ryan Knapp, before the visitors rallied for a 6-4 edge the rest of the way.

“We had so many open looks, it was pretty easy,” Heredia said. “We knew if they were going to take Troy away [he finished with five points, making two of his three field-goal tries, including a three-pointer] other guys were going to have to step up. And they all did a good job of hitting shots.”

Junior Kohl Jones was foremost among the opportunists, scoring 19 first-half points and finishing with a game-high 21. Jones made 10 of 16 field-goal tries and was among the seven Estancia players to connect from threedom. In one stretch from the end of the first quarter to past midway though the second, Jones, who had a team-high five steals, scored 14 of Estancia’s 17 points.

Senior Tim Neumann had 12 points and shared the rebounding lead with three others (all with five).

Junior point guard Kevin Thomas earned praise from Heredia for controlling the offensive flow. He finished with six points and four assists.

Knapp led an effective bench brigade for the winners, hitting all four of his field-goal tries, including three three-pointers, to post 11 points.

Cherney contributed nine points off the bench as Estancia’s reserves combined to make 13 of 20 field-goal tries (65%).

The running clock in the fourth quarter, as well as an intentionally vanilla offensive look, helped limit the final margin of victory.

“We just ran our basic offense, no specials,” said Heredia, mindful of Laguna Hills’ scouting efforts. “And we’ve been on the other end [of a blowout], so we didn’t want to run it up.”

Jones, junior Zack Mikol and Cherney had five rebounds apiece, while sophomore starter Davon Joyner added four.

Junior Michael Davila, called up from the junior varsity for the tournament, and junior Jesus Antonio added four points apiece, combining to go four of five on field-goal tries.

Estancia Coast Classic

First round

Estancia 77, John Glenn 33

SCORE BY QUARTERS

JG – Escobar 11, Moten 10, Renteria 5, Lopez 3, Hong 2, Figueroa 2.

3-pt. goals – Escobar 1, Renteria 1.

Est – Jones 21, Neumann 12, Knapp 11, Cherney 9, Thomas 6, McClanahan 5, Antonio 4, Davila 4, Joyner 3, Mikol 2.

3-pt. goals – Knapp 3, Thomas 2, McClanahan 1, Jones 1, Neumann 1, Joyner 1, Cherney 1.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].