From Behind 3-Point Line, Estancia’s Tiny Eagles Stand Mighty Tall

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the Estancia High School basketball team.

Huh?

No, no, no, that is the varsity.

The players only look like freshmen. It’s an easy mistake, one that some opposing teams have made and regretted this season.

“I imagine other teams look at us during warm-ups and feel it’s going to be an easy game,” Estancia Coach Tim O’Brien said. “I know I would laugh at us if I was an opposing coach. We just don’t look threatening.”

Until coming to Estancia, O’Brien was a firm believer in power basketball. Just pound the ball inside and let the big guys dominate.

Trouble is, at Estancia, there aren’t any big guys. In fact, there are precious few medium-sized guys.

Not a player on the Eagles’ roster stands taller than 6-foot 3-inches (maybe) or weighs more than 180 pounds (at best). Yet, this is a team that won its first 10 games and is 13-1 heading into Sea View League play, which begins Wednesday.

“To tell you the truth, at times, I don’t even know how we’re doing it,” O’Brien said.

Don’t be fooled. O’Brien has adapted his coaching style and turned basketball into a game where such little things as rebounding and shot blocking are luxuries, not absolute necessities. His bunch of runnin’, gunnin’ gym rats hasterrorized opponents this season with a little pressure defense, some precision passing and a lot of good shooting--most of it from 3-point land.

Suddenly, the Eagles look a lot taller. Already this season, they have climbed from nowhere to become the seventh-ranked team in Orange County--and a concern of coaches in the Sea View League.

“I had my whole team go watch Estancia play in the (South) Coast tournament,” Corona del Mar Coach Paul Orris said. “I didn’t want our players to overlook them.”

It’s tough to overlook the facts.

The Eagles have beaten opponents by an average of 20 points and have scored 70 or more points 9 times. They’ve won the Garden Grove and Fullerton tournaments and finished third in the 16-team South Coast Christmas tournament.

Admittedly, the competition hasn’t exactly been brutal. Estancia has played only one team that is ranked in the top 10 of the county and the Eagles lost that game, 55-50, to Irvine.

Still, the Eagles have beaten some quality teams (El Modena, Western, La Quinta) and have thrashed some of lesser quality teams (they’ve won 3 games by more than 40 points).

“At first I felt we were just on a roll, that we were just on a hot-shooting streak,” O’Brien said. “I felt that sooner or later it had to end. You can’t live forever on 3-pointers.”

Or can you?

Coaches live for the high-percentage shot. But for the Eagles, the 3-pointer, that 19-foot 9-inch equalizer, is the high-percentage shot.

As a team, Estancia is shooting a bit less than 50% from the field. However, behind the 3-point line, the Eagles are an astonishing 55%.

“You give us just a little room and we’ll take that 3-pointer every time,” said guard Mike Curtis, who is 43 of 64 (67%) on 3-pointers. “That’s usually the first option in our offense.”

Possibly even the second, third and fourth.

Against Costa Mesa, five players combined to make 12 of 16 3-pointers, including Curtis, who was 6 of 7. Only guard Paul McDaniel is shooting less than 50% on the season and he’s shooting 45%. Everyone is a scoring threat, even Tim Kjar, the team’s 6-3 so-called center.

It was Kjar who won the Western game with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“We know the way we’re going to win is by making the J’s (jump shots),” Kjar said. “And if you’re going to shoot from 15 feet, you might as well back up a little and go for the 3. And coach lets us.”

O’Brien’s coaching philosophy changed when he came to Estancia in the fall of 1987. After coaching brutes like Rog Middleton (6-4) and Leo Parker (6-6) the previous 2 years at Tustin, O’Brien suddenly found himself coaching Team Opie.

“I knew going in that Estancia had a history of small teams,” said O’Brien. “But these guys looked like junior varsity players. We try to get in the weight room, but even that doesn’t do much good.”

Estancia was 15-11 last season and finished third in the Sea View League. Over the summer, O’Brien roamed Southern California, attending coaching clinics trying to come up with an offense to fit his team.

The result was an offense that stations shooters around the 3-point line almost all the time.

“It’s silly to try and post players up or work the ball inside if you don’t have the players to do it, and we don’t,” O’Brien said. “I tell them, ‘Go ahead, take the 3-pointer.’ Everyone on the team has the green light to shoot it.”

Which means the Eagles can score points in a hurry.

Against El Modena in the La Quinta tournament, the Eagles trailed, 8-0. They proceeded to scored the next 20 points and went on to win, 73-61.

Said Curtis: “At one point, the El Modena coach called timeout. I heard one of their players ask if they could switch from man-to-man to a zone. The coach said, ‘They’re shooting over you now.’ I guess he thought it could get worse.”

But, it’s wrong to attribute the Eagles’ rise on their shooting ability alone. What makes the Eagles successful is that they adhere to some basic fundamentals--passing, defense and free throws.

“You get into a free-throw shooting contest with Estancia and you’ll come out second-best every time,” Corona del Mar’s Orris said.

The Eagles are shooting better than 80% from the free-throw line. Guard Augustine Heredia is the best of the bunch, making more than 85% of his foul shots.

Heredia, a 5-11 junior, also directs the attack on the floor. When the Eagles get the ball--occasionally on a rebound--they put it in Heredia’s hands.

“Heredia takes charge and that takes a lot pressure off Curtis,” Orris said. “He runs the team and allows Curtis to concentrate on shooting. Heredia is very good at getting the ball to the open man.”

But, when it comes to the transition game, everyone gets into the act. It’s not uncommon for the Eagles to make four, even five passes on the fast break without dribbling the ball once.

“They cause problems because all them move well,” Saddleback Coach Pat Quinn said. “They are not very flashy and that’s what can hurt you. They’re deceptive.”

Defensively, the Eagles primarily play zone and will use half-court and full-court presses to disrupt teams. They are aggressive defenders, not afraid to take the charging foul.

Against Laguna Hills, Kjar and forward Andy Scholes combined to draw six charging fouls, five of which nullified Laguna Hills’ baskets. The Eagles won, 64-61.

“I’m getting pretty good at taking the charge,” Scholes said. “You have to put a little act into it for the referee.”

Of course, anything the Eagles do would have to be little.