Eagles peeled

Barry Faulkner

Estancia High’s inaugural boys basketball tour through the Golden

West League landed at venerable Orange High Friday night, where the

confines were cozy and the Panthers were primed.

“Playing a lot of schools in this league for the first time, teams

don’t know about how crazy our crowd gets,” said Rick Rodabaugh,

serving as Orange co-coach with Dave Lein, since head coach Andre

Smith is sidelined by a health condition. “It’s gets nuts in here and

I think it’s going to start filling up more.”

The Panthers (10-8, 3-1 in league) were filling it up Friday,

particularly in the first half, when 6-foot-4 senior Justin Collins

drained four three-pointers en route to 17 points before intermission.

Collins had help as the hosts opened up a 15-4 cushion that

eventually became a 22-10 lead at the end of the first period.

Orange, which meets Santa Ana Friday in a game that could decide

which team is best equipped to challenge league-leading Ocean View,

continued to roll in the second quarter.

A pair of threes by Collins helped fuel a 13-2 run midway through

the period to help push the lead to 39-18, before three-pointers by

Estancia’s Matt Cachola and Carlos Pinto helped the Eagles pull to

within 42-24 at the break.

Plagued by foul trouble and sub-par shooting, both from the field

and at the free-throw line, the Eagles tried to mount a comeback in

the third period.

A Pinto layin, on a high-low feed from Jordan Stroman, and

back-to-back buckets by 6-8 senior center Joey Lindquist, the latter

he turned into a three-point play, helped the Eagles (13-6, 3-2 in

league) pull within 44-31 with 5:18 remaining.

But Orange’s Patrick Sanders, an acrobatic 6-6 senior whom UC

Irvine Coach Pat Douglass was on hand to watch, hovered over the

Estancia defenders in the lane, catching and converting an inbound

lob to start a 6-0 run that helped the hosts regain control.

A 14-3 Orange run in the fourth quarter helped increase the

advantage to a game-high 30, before the Eagles ended the game on a

9-3 spurt. But the 23-point defeat was the Eagles’ worst of the

season.

“As a staff, we were happy with our offensive execution,” Estancia

Coach Chris Sorce said. “But we couldn’t put the ball in the basket

and, when we were fouled, we couldn’t make our free throws.”

Estancia was 18 of 42 from the floor (42.8%) and just 11 of 25

from the line (44%).

Meanwhile, Orange hit 19 of 40 field-goal attempts through three

quarters (47.5%), before substituting liberally to the delight of the

home faithful in the final eight minutes.

Pinto finished with 13 points to pace the Eagles, who received 10

points from Tyler Hoffman (including a pair of fourth-quarter

three-pointers) and nine points each from Lindquist and Stroman.

Stroman provided a spark off the bench, hitting 3 of 4 field-goal

attempts and adding three rebounds and two assists.

Sorce said the junior Costa Mesa transfer likely earned more

future playing time with his performance against the athletic

Panthers.

Collins finished with a season-high 24 points, while Sanders added

17 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.

Quentin Parker, a 6-5 senior, came off the bench to contribute 14

points and 10 boards for the winners.

Estancia, which gets the league bye Wednesday, has all week to

prepare for its Friday meeting at Ocean View.

“Orange definitely sliced us up a little bit, but they’ve got

talented players,” Sorce said. “Now, we have to get ready for Ocean

View.”