Prep Basketball : Sea View League Roundup : Sixth Time Is Still No Charm for Estancia Against Saddleback

Tim O’Brien, Estancia High School basketball coach, had that nervous-yet-optimistic, anxious-but-happy-to-be-here look on his face Friday night just before his team began its game against Saddleback, the county’s top-ranked team.

“This’ll be the sixth time we’ve played ‘em in two years,” O’Brien said. “They beat us four times last year, and once already this year. Something’s got to happen one of these times.”

Something did happen, and unfortunately for O’Brien, it wasn’t in his team’s favor as Saddleback defeated Estancia, 69-55, in a Sea View League game at Saddleback.

For Saddleback (20-1 overall, 6-0 in league play), Friday’s performance was the climax to a fine week. Wednesday, Saddleback played one of its best games in beating Newport Harbor, 69-46, and Friday found the Roadrunners warmed up and ready for business once again.

This hasn’t always been the case for Saddleback this season. The Roadrunners have, at times, been plagued with the blahs, playing just well enough to win. Not this week.

“Our intensity was there from start to finish--we were relentless,” Pat Quinn, Saddleback’s coach, said. “We didn’t coast. I told them whoever coasted would come out. And these boys like to play.”

Indeed. The Roadrunners, led by an impressive 25-point performance by Craig Marshall, were, to Estancia’s dismay, duly inspired for four quarters.

Although Estancia (17-3, 4-2) played Saddleback tough, and trailed just, 28-27, at the half, Estancia couldn’t keep up with the Roadrunners’ run-and-gun third quarter. In that period, Saddleback outscored Estancia, 19-8, to begin the fourth quarter with a 47-35 lead.

Estancia made a run of it in the fourth quarter, making 3 straight 3-pointers in the opening minutes. That cut Saddleback’s lead to 57-46, but it wasn’t enough, especially with the stunning play of Marshall, who scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, including 3 straight baskets--one on a left-handed bank shot, one on a right-handed hook from underneath, and the final on a full court lay-up.

Marshall, who twisted his ankle in the game’s final seconds, also limited Mike Curtis to 14 points. Curtis came into the game with a 22.6 average.

Augustin Heredia led the Eagles with 19 points, including 3 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Malru Dottin helped Saddleback with 13 points, and Sean Simon and Tony Galbert each added 10.

“Bigger, stronger, quicker . . . they just wore us down,” O’Brien said. “They’re a real good team, and Marshall’s as good as any player around. I don’t feel real bad for losing, though. At least we’re not going to see another team like Saddleback for a while.

“And hey, if you lose 6 straight, something’s just not in the cards.”

In the other Sea View League games:

Tustin 59, Newport Harbor 52--Cheavly Ly scored 22 points and Dylan Steiler 17 to lead host Tustin (12-9, 2-4). Jason Moore had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Tillers. Chris Lee scored 25 points for Newport Harbor (11-10, 0-6).

Corona del Mar 51, University 42--Point guard Matt Cwiertnia scored 13 points including 3 3-pointers to lead host Corona del Mar (13-6, 4-2). Cwiertnia made 2 3-pointers as Corona del Mar outscored University, 12-6, in the third quarter to lead, 35-26. Dave Dieter scored 12 points for University (7-13, 2-4).