ESTANCIA TOURNAMENT : Jessie Shadows Molle, Helps Edison Down Irvine to Reach Semifinals

Edison High School stopped Irvine’s John Molle and defeated the Vaqueros, 57-32, Thursday in a quarterfinal game of the Estancia Coast Christmas tournament at Estancia High School.

Edison sophomore Brandon Jessie stayed close to Molle, keeping the ball away from the junior who had been averaging 28 points and had scored 31 in Irvine’s first-round victory over Cypress Tuesday. Although Molle occasionally broke free, he only made one of 16 shots, finishing with eight points, two in each quarter.

“They did a good job defending him and he had an off-game,” Irvine Coach Steve Keith said. “That’s a tough combination.”

Edison, the tournament’s second-seeded team, advances to the semifinals at 8:40 tonight against Estancia.

No Irvine player could pick up the slack for Molle as the Vaqueros (6-5) let fly with errant jump shots. The Vaqueros made only 11 of 43 shots from the field.

Both teams looked rusty at the outset, and Edison (9-3) led, 9-6, after a quarter. Irvine guard Greg Bains hit a jumper in the first minute of the second quarter to cut Edison’s lead to 9-8, but almost immediately, Jessie took over. First, he made a jumper, then he followed a steal with a breakaway dunk. It was the start of an 8-2 run for the Chargers, from which Irvine never recovered. The Vaqueros trailed by 10 at the half but scored only four points in the third quarter.

Jessie led all scorers with 16 points. Edison guard Tom Tyler added 12.

In other Estancia tournament games:

Los Alamitos 52, Corona del Mar 50--Playing much of the second half without 6-foot-11 center Robert Conlisk, the Griffins, seeded first in the tournament, barely held on to win the quarterfinal game. Trailing, 50-47, Corona del Mar missed two three-point shots that would have tied it with less than 20 seconds remaining. After a pair of Los Alamitos free throws, Westen Johnson made a three-pointer from almost half-court.

Mission Viejo 61, Tustin 56--Eric Cramer had 19 points to lead Mission Viejo in a second-round game. David Beilstein led all scorers with 23 points for Tustin (10-1). Bill Denny had 16 points and Greg Amaya had 11 for Mission Viejo.

Mission Viejo outscored Tustin, 18-8, in the second quarter to take a 30-22 halftime lead. But Tustin outscored Mission Viejo, 21-13, in the third quarter to tie the score, 43-43. However, Mission Viejo went on another streak, outscoring Tustin, 18-13.

Estancia 63, Long Beach Jordan 44--Augustin Heredia scored 26 points to lead the Eagles (7-3) into the semifinals. Estancia led, 33-31, at the half but pulled away, outscoring Jordan (6-5), 30-13, in the second half.