Eagles lose touch

Bryce Alderton

From bounty to fallow, the Estancia High boys basketball team saw

its shooting touch dwindle to a paltry number -- 17% -- in the second

half and a thirsty Century team drank from the fountain of victory.

The Centurions (9-5) outscored the Eagles, 29-12, in the final two

quarters and beat the host Eagles, 56-43, in a nonleague game

Thursday.

Estancia (10-4) shot 50% (11 for 22) in the first half but made

only four field goals in the second half. An opportunistic Centurion

defense forced four consecutive turnovers in the final 2:40 as

Century outscored the Eagles, 13-0, to end the game.

“That was our poorest effort of the season all away around and the

result was a loss,” said Estancia Coach Chris Sorce, who got his

first coaching job in the mid 1990s overseeing Century’s sophomore

team under current varsity coach Greg Coombs. “We had a meltdown and

basically a close game turned into an ugly score.”

Century’s Omar Castillo came up with three steals and Eric Ceja,

who came off the bench to score 10 points, added one in the final run

as Estancia struggled to get the ball past midcourt against a

pressing defense.

“They always play very good defense and they are patient on

offense and that is the formula for success,” Sorce said.

Estancia led from 4:14 left in the first quarter until a Ceja

drained a three-pointer to give Century the lead for good on its

opening possession of the fourth quarter. The Eagles’ biggest lead

came at 30-22 with 2:54 in the second period on a Jordan Stroman

nine-foot basket from the baseline on a pass from Matt Cachola.

A three-pointer an a layup by Novak along with two-point baskets

by Joey Lindquist and Carlos Pinto were the only field goals for

Estancia in the second half.

Pinto had eight of his 10 points in the first quarter while

Cachola, the team’s leading scorer, got all of his 12 points in the first half on 4-of-5 shooting.

“(Pinto) is their best scorer so we put one of our better

defenders (Hugo Sanchez) on him,” said Coombs, who gave the Eagles’

credit afterward. “(Estancia will have a successful season. They play

solid basketball and it shows in their record.”

The Centurions’ leading scorer, David Sok, had 17 of his 19 points

in the first half including hitting 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Hugo

Sanchez collected 13 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, hitting

on 5-of-6 field goal attempts.

Nonleague

Century 56, Estancia 43

Score by Quarters

Century 10 17 7

22 - 56

Estancia 16 15 5

7 - 43

Century -- Dodge 4, Mendoza 4, Sanchez 19, Sok 19,

Castillo 0, Ceja 10, Leyva 0, Marin 0, Torres 0, Romero 0, Verdin 0.

3-pt. goals -- Sok 5, Sanchez 3, Ceja 2.

Fouled out -- Dodge.

Technicals -- none.

Estancia -- Pinto 10, Lindquist 8, Stroman 3, Cachola 12, Novak 5,

Sankey 4, Hoffman 1, Andersen 0.

3-pt. goals -- Cachola 1, Novak 1, Pinto 1.

Fouled out -- Cachola.

Technicals -- none.