ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Boys’ Roundup : Estancia, Without Allen, Still Tops Sonora

Estancia High School beat Sonora, 68-42, in the first round of the Estancia Tournament in Costa Mesa Friday night.

That wasn’t much of a surprise, unless you consider that the Eagles were playing without one of their best players, 6-foot 4-inch forward Matt Allen, whom Coach Joe Reid kicked off the team in a disciplinary action last week.

The Eagles (4-5) had lost two straight games since Allen’s dismissal but came back in style, picking Sonora apart with precision shooting and good defense.

“We gained a lot of confidence knowing we can win without him (Allen),” Reid said. “We’ve had some bad luck lately; hopefully this will carry over.”

Estancia didn’t look like a team lacking a top player Friday as a balanced offensive attack put the Raiders away in the first quarter. The Eagles outscored Sonora, 11-2, over the final five minutes to take a 17-6 first-quarter lead.

To make matters worse for the Raiders (4-5), their long-range specialist, David Morris, didn’t make his first jump shot until 3:28 remained in the first half. By then, Sonora was behind, 21-8.

Forward Brian Tift led the Eagles with 20 points, and Kyle Mooney had 13. Center Steve Barkley scored 12 points.

In other tournament games:

Corona del Mar 74, Santa Ana Valley 47--Markus Muller-Stach scored 19 points and Chris Hook had 12 to lead the Sea Kings past the Falcons in the first-round game. Corona del Mar (10-2) will play Edison in tonight’s second round.

Edison 53, Cypress 40--Mike Henderson scored 20 points and teammate Scott Destefano had 12 for the Chargers (5-5). Matt Civitelli scored 16 points for Cypress, which plays in the consolation round against Santa Ana Valley at 9 a.m.

Irvine 65, LB Jordan 52--Matt Norton scored 20 points and Mike Herring had 16 as the Vaqueros (7-4) advanced to play Estancia tonight at 7.

Mission Viejo 79, Laguna Hills 55--The Diablos outscored the Hawks, 23-7, in the fourth quarter to advance to play Fontana in the quarterfinals at 3:40 today. Jeff Herdman scored 26 points and Todd Matthews 19 for Mission Viejo (6-2).

Mike Smedes came of the bench to score 15 for Laguna Hills (4-7), which plays Hoover at 10:40 this morning.

University 77, Huntington Beach 70--Lasse Gassnen scored 29 points and Steve Stolvoff had 20 as the Trojans advance to play El Toro in at 5:20 tonight.

El Toro 100, Iolani 35--Eric Speaker led the Chargers with 18 points and 8 rebounds in the first-round victory. Bret Johnson contributed 16 points and 8 assists. Mike Cobb and Mike Van Riette scored 12 points each.

In the Canyon Tournament:

Villa Park 70, La Mirada 60--Chris Stork scored 18 points to lead the Spartans over the Matadores in first-round action at Canyon High School.

Scott Ray had 15 points and Robbie Ward added 14 for La Mirada. Villa Park will play Esperanza and La Mirada will meet Trabuco Hills in the tournament’s second round Monday.

Esperanza 63, Trabuco Hills 61--Ross Harvey scored 16 points, including the only two points of the second overtime, to push the Aztecs past the Mustangs in the Canyon Tournament.

In the Brea-Olinda Tournament:

Sunny Hills 64, HH Wilson 60--Eric Carpenter scored 16 points for the Lancers as they advance to the semifinals against Brea-Olinda Monday night at 8:15.

Brea-Olinda 71, Pomona 54--The Red Devils were without forward Tank Collins, who averaged 30.5 points a game in the Tournament of Champions because of illness, and the Wildcats took advantage as advanced to the semifinals.

In the Fiesta Bowl Tournament:

Tustin 68, Tempe 55--The score was tied after three quarters, 42-42, but the Tillers outscored Tempe, 26-13, in the final quarter to win the first-round game at Tempe, Ariz.

In the San Diego Kiwanis Tournament:

Los Alamitos 49, Point Loma 41--Senior forward Mo Warner scored 12 of his game-high 17 points in the second half to pace the Griffins’ come-from-behind victory in a championship semifinal match and put Los Alamitos into today’s title game against La Jolla.

In the Katella Tournament:

Gahr 62, Western 42--Forward Shawn Jamison scored a game-high 27 points, including 12 in the final period, to pace the Gladiators’ victory.

Katella 66, Rancho Alamitos 52--The Knights’ front line of center Richard Lucas (26 points and 18 rebounds) and forwards Ian Donnelly (15 points and 17 rebounds) and Brett Smith (10 points) dominated the Vaqueros, who got a 26-point performance from center Craig Paquette.