Boys’ Basketball Roundup : Estancia Beats La Quinta for Title

Mike Curtis scored 27 points and Augustin Heredia added 21 points and 12 assists to lead Estancia High School to a 76-66 victory over La Quinta in the La Quinta tournament final Friday.

Estancia (7-0), which made just 8 of its 33 field goal attempts in the first half and trailed, 34-29, made 15 of its 17 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter to seal the victory. La Quinta (5-2), by contrast, made only 3 of 11 fourth-quarter foul shots.

Curtis, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player, made 7 of his 8 fourth-period free throws. Heredia, who made all 13 of his free throws in the game, made 8 foul shots in the final period. Curtis (13 points) and Heredia (12) scored 25 of Estancia’s 27 fourth-quarter points.

La Quinta took advantage of Estancia’s cold first-half shooting to take a 16-9 lead with 2 minutes left in the first quarter, a lead it would hold through most of the half. The Aztecs’ Scott Campbell, who led all scorers with 32 points, made 11 of his 15 first-half points in the second quarter. One of Campbell’s three-pointers, which came with 1 minute left in the second quarter, gave La Quinta a 34-27 lead.

Estancia, however, narrowed the Aztec lead to 5 points by halftime on 2 free throws by Tim Kjar, who finished the game with 12 points.

After a 3-pointer by the Aztecs to start the third quarter, Estancia scored 7 unanswered points to narrow the La Quinta advantage to 37-36 with 5 minutes remaining. After La Quinta regained the lead after a Curtis drive tied the score at 38-38 Curtis scored 6 points in the final 4 minutes of the period, giving Estancia a 49-45.

Linck finished the game with 15 points for La Quinta while Estancia’s McDaniel had 10.

In the third-place game:

Katella 73, El Modena 70--Brian Yourstone scored 8 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter as Katella (2-5) held off a late El Modena rally.

Bryon Rice had 16 points and Jamie Vitzelio added 14 for Katella. El Modena (6-2) was led by Robbie Pietsch, who scored 30 points. Jeff Leedom added 16 and Ramsey Rycraw had 12.

In the consolation championship:

West Torrance 76, Huntington Beach 74--Ken Faulkner scored a basket with 4 seconds remaining in the game to give West Torrance the victory. Dock Kim led West Torrance with 20 points and Jude Donahue and Scott Veroda added 14 points apiece. Joey Kijewski led Huntington Beach (3-4) with 15 points.

In the seventh-place game:

Cypress 76, Torrance 64--Mark Johnson scored 21 points and Mike Flowers 17 to lead Cypress. Torrance was led by Rick Robison, who scored 26 points, and Toby Wollard, who had 16.