Estancia boys’ basketball continues quick start with win over rival Costa Mesa
Jaedon Hose-Shea has been a four-year starter at guard for the Estancia High boys’ basketball team, and that means plenty of battles against crosstown rival Costa Mesa.
The last Battle for the Bell game before Friday night ended in particularly bitter fashion for him. He missed the first free throw of a one-and-one situation in the final minute, and the Mustangs hung on for a one-point win in the Eagles’ gym last year.
“It was really devastating,” Hose-Shea said. “This year, it feels really good because we’ve just worked super-hard to get to this point.”
Friday night’s first rivalry game against Costa Mesa decidedly did not come down to a free throw at the end.
Hose-Shea scored a game-high 23 points as Estancia won 55-37 in its gym, continuing a fast start to the season.
The Eagles improved to 10-2 overall, and 2-0 in the Orange Coast League. Costa Mesa is now 6-10 overall, and 1-1 in league.
“I’ve got some good kids coming back that are working really hard and grew up a lot last year,” Estancia coach Xavier Castellano said. “I think this is one of the more mentally tough teams I’ve had … We’ve watched [Costa Mesa] play and we know they can shoot. They scored 89 on Westminster and just played great against St. Margaret’s. We respect every opponent, we just had a game plan and the guys followed the game plan.”
Peter Sanchez chipped in 13 points for the Eagles, and fellow senior Nik Paguirigan had 11. Both Hose-Shea and Paguirigan had three makes from downtown.
Coming into the game, the Eagles had beaten Costa Mesa just once in Hose-Shea’s four years on varsity, but they never trailed Friday night. After taking a 21-13 halftime lead, they pulled away in the third quarter.
Hose-Shea scored 11 points as part of a 16-1 run for the Eagles.
“This whole season, I’ve been a third-quarter type of guy,” he said. “I don’t know why. Our coaches just get on us at halftime, tell us to be more aggressive, so I just try to get to the basket as much as I can. If I’m feeling it, I’ll start shooting threes.”
That offensive skill is nothing new to Sanchez, another four-year varsity player.
“I’ve been playing with Jaedon my whole life, since like second grade,” he said. “Seeing that is just normal to me. Today, he just came out and was playing really hard and helped our team out.”
Sophomore co-captain Miles Dodge had four points and a team-best 10 rebounds for the winners, while senior Raymundo Herrera chipped in eight boards.
Sophomore guard Marlee Slone led the young Mustangs with 14 points and also had five steals. Junior Kembe Howerton had 10 points and senior guard Dylan Dunbar added nine.
Costa Mesa coach Jesse Mercado said that Howerton is the only returning starter from last year’s team, which finished 9-3 in league for a third-place finish. The Mustangs struggled offensively against Estancia, with three single-digit quarters.
“The guys got a little frustrated,” Mercado said. “We were still in the game in the first half due to our defense, and they just chipped away. Credit to Xavi, they did a great job scouting us, knew our strengths, knew our weaknesses. It was just a rough shooting night with some frustration within, just a combination for a bad mix.”
Estancia continues league play with road games against Orange and Saddleback next week. Costa Mesa has nonleague home games against University and Magnolia on Monday and Tuesday before returning to league with a game at Santa Ana on Thursday.
Orange Coast League
Estancia 55, Costa Mesa 37
Costa Mesa 6 - 7 - 8 - 16 — 37
Estancia 12 - 9 - 20 - 14 — 55
CM — M. Slone 14, Howerton 10, Dunbar 9, Rosas 4.
3-pt. goals — M. Slone 1.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
E — Hose-Shea 23, Sanchez 13, Paguirigan 11, Dodge 4, Herrera 2, Carrasco 2.
3-pt. goals — Hose-Shea 3, Paguirigan 3, Sanchez 1.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
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