Orange County Sports / Prep Basketball : 3-A PLAYOFFS : New-Look Sunny Hills Wins, 69-61

Maybe Sunny Hills High School Coach Steve White should think about shuffling his starting lineup more often.

Without point guard Chris Drakos Friday night, the Lancers used a new-look lineup to defeat Estancia, 69-61, in the first round of the Southern Section 3-A playoffs at Fullerton.

The victory advanced Sunny Hills (21-3), the second-seeded team, to a second-round game against Cypress on Tuesday night. Cypress defeated Montebello, 61-58, and will be the designated home team in the next round.

“With a different lineup, it looked like our first game of the year,” said White. “This was a good team effort tonight and I’m very pleased to advance to the next round.”

Both Drakos, who was averaging 7.4 assists per game, and Estancia forward Osmin Campos were ruled academically ineligible before the start of the playoffs. Without Drakos, White moved David Chisum from forward to guard and Walter Mitter moved into Chisum’s starting forward spot.

Chisum responded with a game-high 23 points and had 9 rebounds. Guard Jeff White added 14 points, most of them coming from the 15- to 20-foot range.

The Lancers built a 35-32 lead at halftime, but they were unable to put the Eagles away until White’s three-point play with 1:38 reamaining.

Estancia (15-13) was led by Chris Rupsa with 21 points and Brian Bradley added 14 points, including four three-point shots.