Sea View League : Tustin Does League Favor, Halts Estancia’s Upset Streak With 76-64 Win

Tustin High School did itself and the rest of the Sea View League a big favor Wednesday night. It stopped the upstart Estancia team that had seemed bent on upsetting all the league powers.

The Eagles had upset both Corona del Mar, ranked fourth in the county at the time, and University.

One game shy of the end of the first round, Estancia, once 4-8 and picked to finish well back in the league, had won six straight and was undefeated in four league games.

Tustin, the county’s No. 4 team, had been pushed to overtime in each of its league victories before Wednesday. But it turned the league title chase back into a race, defeating Estancia, 76-64, at Estancia.

“That’s what the rest of the (league) coaches wanted tonight, for Tustin to bring us back to reality,” Estancia Coach Joe Reid said. “They did it.”

By the end, it was done with surprising ease. Tustin (4-1, 16-3) led by 15 with 1:36 to play.

The victory moves Tustin into a tie in the standings with Estancia (4-1, 10-9), although the Tillers are slightly ahead by having won the only meeting.

The Tillers led by only eight late in the third quarter, when they went to a semi-delay game that was partly an effort to waste time, with the Tillers in deep foul trouble.

But the delay turned out to be a productive offense. With the Tustin guards handling the ball near halfcourt and Rog Middleton at the foul line, Tustin scored repeatedly off the spread. Twice, Middleton, who finished with 26 points, completed three-point plays off the offense, getting the ball at the high post and driving through the open lane.

“We were trying to isolate our best player,” Tustin Coach Tim O’Brien said. It worked.

Although Estancia cut the lead to 10 with a minute left, any remaining hopes of a comeback ended when the Eagles’ Kyle Mooney was called for an intentional foul with 49 seconds left. Tustin’s Brad Cantrell made both free throws and then Scott Wilber scored on the possession, putting it out of reach.

Tustin had to deal with serious foul trouble--both Middleton and Leo Parker had three at the half--and the Tillers went as deep as the 11th man on the bench.

“That shows the quality of our team,” O’Brien said.

With the Estancia defense sagging in on Tustin, the Tiller guards picked up the slack. Cantrell finished with 10, and many of his points came on shots from beyond 18 feet.

Steve Barkley kept the Eagles in it with 20 points, most of them coming on half-hooks in the lane.

“We did a good job on Mooney and (Brian) Tift,” O’Brien said. “(Steve) Barkley hurt us, but I don’t think Barkley can beat you. Tift and Mooney are the ones who got them to 4-0.”

Said Reid: “It’s a tribute to the league. Anybody can knock anybody off. But we don’t match up well with their big guys, and we didn’t expect their guards to be so tough.”

Estancia trailed by as many as 11 in the first half but was able to cut it to five at halftime when Parker was called for a foul and technical with 30 seconds remaining in the half and Tustin up by 10. Estancia made three free throws and scored on the awarded possession, making it, 35-30.

That the Eagles were that close was little short of amazing. Estancia made but six shots in the first half, but made 18 of 19 free throws to stay in it.

Corona del Mar 55, Newport Harbor 36--Markus Muller-Stach scored 15 points and Darren Morris added 11 to lead the Sea Kings (3-2 in league) at home. Newport Harbor (0-5, 6-12) made just 12 of 46 shots.

University 64, Saddleback 56--Steve Stolzoff scored 24 points and Lasse Glassen and Eric Olin each scored 14 to lead the Trojans at Saddleback. Malru Dottin led Saddleback with 11 points.