Estancia Is All Smiles After Beating Lompoc in Triple Overtime

His hands were still shaking after it was over, but the grin remained on Tim O’Brien’s face.

Estancia High School’s coach was smiling because the Eagles had just secured an 81-78 triple-overtime victory over host Lompoc in a 3-AA semifinal Friday at Cabrillo High.

“What you just saw was a great high school basketball game,” O’Brien said. “We executed well down to the final play. So did they. It was almost like two points was a cushion.”

With five seconds left in the third overtime, sophomore forward Matt Fuerbringer drove the lane for a layup, was fouled and completed the three-point play for the final score.

Estancia (19-9) will face Servite, a 74-60 winner over Culver City in Friday’s other semifinal, in the championship game at 8:30 Wednesday night in the Bren Center.

But that game will be hard-pressed to match this one for sheer excitement. There were 15 lead changes from the fourth quarter on.

“This is unbelievable,” O’Brien said. “I would never have believed we would get this far with these guys. But we’ve survived. We found a way to win.”

Friday night’s victory was no exception for the undersized, overachieving Eagles. Lompoc (21-6) held a 13-point lead late in the second quarter, thanks mainly to forward Maurice White’s 15 first-half points.

But Estancia guard Agustin Heredia brought Estancia back in the second half. He hit seven of seven field goal attempts, and his pair of free throws with 19 seconds left in regulation gave Estancia a 68-65 lead.

But it was Heredia’s miss on the front end of a one-and-one with 11 seconds left that allowed Lompoc to send the game into overtime.

Jason Garife buried an off-balance three-pointer with two seconds left to tie the score at 68-68.

In the first overtime, Lompoc’s Scott Morgan hit a turnaround hook to tie the score at 72-72, and Estancia failed to get off a shot as time ran out.

With 32 second left in the second overtime, Heredia put in his own missed shot to tie the score at 76-76.

In the third overtime, White’s looping layup with 59 seconds left tied the score at 78-78. Estancia’s final play was designed for Heredia, but Fuerbringer saw an opening in Lompoc’s defense and took it.

“I was waiting for (the lane) to close, but it didn’t,” Fuerbringer said. “So I just put it up and in.”

Fuerbringer had nine of his 18 points in overtime.

Heredia was the game’s leading scorer with 32 points. Mike Haas added 14 and Torey Hammond 13 for Estancia.

Lompoc, which upset top-seeded Morningside to reach the semifinal, was led by White’s 22 points and 12 rebounds. Garife and Marshall Emerson scored 14 each for Lompoc, and guard Duane Jeter added 13.