Newport Flexes Its Muscles to Upset Estancia

The Estancia High School basketball team not only lost Friday night, but the No. 2-ranked Eagles got a good, old-fashioned whipping in the process. And on their home court.

Newport Harbor, ranked seventh, managed to defeat the defending Sea View League champions in the Estancia gym, 61-49, by stopping the Eagle press. By virtue of the victory the Sailors (3-0 in league, 12-2 overall) are the early league lead along with unbeaten Saddleback.

The Sailors began fast, held off a late charge by the Eagles and eventually won going away in a matchup of two of the three preseason league favorites.

Throughout the game the Sailors consistently stymied the Eagles’ vaunted presses, of which they have as many as five ranging from half-court to full-court, limiting the Sailors turnovers and creating many opportunities to score against a spread-out Eagle defense.

“To tell you the truth,” a jubilant Newport Harbor Coach Jerry DeBusk said, “our press-break is geared to beat their press (specifically).

“They’ve got the best press of any team in the county. If you can break them, it should work against any other (team). We’ve been working on it since last summer.”

Even so, moving the ball safely up the court against Estancia was still only half the story.

While senior guard Chuck McGavran took care of the ball handling, center Mike Beech and forward Al Fraser took care of most everything else for the Sailors.

Although Estancia tends to be on the small side for a high school basketball team, its players are historically very good athletes who make few mistakes, intimidate visitors with aggressive play and use the press to create turnovers and ignite their fast break.

This season’s edition of the Eagles (2-1, 14-2) under first-year Coach Joe Reid are really no different than those of past seasons in that respect, but Friday night, Estancia, a small-sized physical team, ran into a large-sized physical team, and the big guys won.

Newport Harbor, for example, out-rebounded Estancia, 36-17, with Al Fraser, who also scored 11 points, leading the Sailors with 12 rebounds--8 in the first half alone. In the second half, Rob Mase was there to pick up the slack, getting all 8 of his rebounds in the last two quarters to go along with his 14 points.

McGavran led the well-balanced Sailors with 16 points, and Mike Beech added 12 points and 6 rebounds.

By boxing the Eagles off of the boards so well, the Sailors managed to limit them to just one shot each time down the court for most of the first half, resulting in a 14-4 second quarter advantage. The Sailors led 30-18 at halftime.

Estancia, meanwhile, didn’t get untracked until well into the third quarter, finding itself down by as many as 16 points (44-28). This was due largely to the Sailors’ patient offense and the Eagles’ own inability to rebound against their larger opponents.

Finding themselves frustrated by poor outside shooting, turnovers, and lack of rebounds, the Eagles often played it rough--so rough, in fact, that on three occasions the referees had to step in and restore order between the two teams:

--With Estancia behind, 28-16, late in the second quarter, the tone of the game was set when Eagle guard Adam Lockwood drove the lane and collided with Beech, the Sailors’ center, who was also a defensive end on the school’s football team.

Lockwood (6-0, 175 pounds) immediately went nose-to-tummy with Beech (6-7, 275 pounds)--not out of stupidity, mind you, but rather to make the point that the Eagles wouldn’t be intimidated by the Sailors, a team that also likes to throw its collective weight around.

--With 2:48 to play in the third quarter and Newport Harbor ahead, 40-24, Estancia strongman Scott Clements escorted Mase, who was trying to score on a fast break, to the water fountain against the wall behind the basket. This earned the ire of the Sailors, which also played into the Eagles’ hands, as Lockwood led his team’s resurgence.

--The Eagles then reeled off 10 straight points but took the steam out of their own comeback when Todd Mooney roughed up Newport Harbor’s Wes Torrell with 12 seconds to play before the end of the third quarter.

Mooney was asked to leave the game by the officials, Torrell hit his free throws, Lockwood answered that with a shot at the buzzer, but the Eagles were still behind by 10 points (46-36) going into the last quarter.

Lockwood, who led all scorers with 20 points, helped the Eagles close to within six at 48-42, but he left the game with an ankle injury with 4:25 to play. Without two key starters, the ejected Mooney and the injured Lockwood, Estancia would not get any closer.

Despite the rough play on the part of both teams, DeBusk took it all in stride.

“It got feisty out there,” DeBusk said. “But, hey, they’re a competitive team. We think we showed we’re competitive, too. We told our kids that we had to keep our poise and we did.”

Beyond breaking the Estancia press and the physical play, DeBusk pointed to the biggest surprise of the night when he asked, “Who would’ve ever thought that Estancia would score only four points in the second quarter?”

Today, the Eagles, in the uncomfortable position of second place in the league, are asking themselves the same question.

Corona del Mar 46, University 40 --The Sea Kings shook off Wednesday’s one-point loss to Estancia to edge the Trojans in a defensive battle at University. Bob Zimmer led Corona del Mar (9-4 overall) with 18 points. Sean Turner, who didn’t score, added seven rebounds for the Sea Kings. Trojan Brad Arnold led all scorers with 20 points.

Costa Mesa 65, Woodbridge 58-- The Mustangs overcame a 9-point deficit at halftime to defeat the Warriors at Woodbridge. Led by forward Carl Kimme, who scored 18 points, Costa Mesa outscored Woodbridge, 40-24, in the second half. The Warrior’s 6-2 junior forward, Mike Murphy, led all scorers with 27 points.

Saddleback 65, Laguna Beach 48 --Mark Walton, a 6-7 senior forward, scored 22 points, hitting 8 of 18 shoots from the field, to lead the Roadrunners (3-0, 10-4) past the Artists at Saddleback High. Coby Naess, a 6-6 junior center, scored 25 points to lead Laguna Beach.