Capistrano Valley Wins Ugly, Ousting Estancia in Overtime

It would be tempting to take the Estancia and Capistrano Valley high school basketball teams out to Fountain Valley’s Mile Square Park one Saturday morning, throw the ball up and just watch them play.

A game on the outdoor cement court--away from the pressures of the playoffs and a crowd--would probably be much more entertaining than what transpired Tuesday night, when Capistrano Valley beat Estancia, 60-54, in overtime in the second round of the Southern Section 4-A tournament at Mission Viejo High School.

There would be no coaches or players screaming at officials, when it seemed every call was hotly contested. Play wouldn’t be as sloppy as it was, when the teams combined for 25 turnovers and each threw away opportunities to win the game in regulation.

And there certainly would be a lot more points scored by two of Orange County’s finest public-school basketball teams.

It would be pure basketball, but it wasn’t like that Tuesday night as neither Estancia nor Capistrano Valley seemed to get into the flow of their normal games.

But fortunately for Capistrano Valley Coach Mark Thornton, his Cougars appeared a little more relaxed and played better than the Eagles during the crucial moments.

An overflow crowd of 1,800 watched Capistrano Valley’s Gregg Bujnovsky and Shawn Reed combine for 11 of the Cougars’ 12 points in overtime to key Capistrano Valley’s win, which advanced the Cougars to Friday’s quarterfinals against top-seeded Glendale.

Bujnovsky hit two jumpers early in overtime to give the Cougars a 52-48 lead, and Reed followed with a three-point play and two free throws for a seven-point lead (57-50) with 38 seconds remaining.

Reed and Bujnovsky each scored 14 points for the Capistrano Valley, which improved to 22-5. Estancia, which was led by Adam Lockwood’s 17 points, finished the season at 25-4.