SOUTHERN SECTION BASKETBALL PLAYOFF CHAMPIONSHIPS : Estancia Stopped Cold in Title Quest : Division III-AA: Defending champions miss their first 15 shots against Pomona. Then their rally falls short, 48-45.

After rolling through the Southern Section Division III-AA playoffs with fast starts and big winning margins, the Estancia High School basketball players found themselves in a new situation Saturday.

They were behind, and they weren’t sure what to do.

After missing its first 15 shots, Estancia rallied from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit, only to watch Son Ly’s off-balance three-pointer rattle out of the rim with four seconds left. That gave Pomona a 48-45 victory in the III-AA championship game at the Sports Arena.

The loss ended a 14-game winning streak for Estancia, which had outscored its opponents, 268-171, in its first four playoff games.

Pomona avenged a three-point loss to Estancia, the defending III-AA champions, in the second round of last year’s tournament.

Dedrique Taylor scored 11 points, including two free throws with 1.8 seconds left, as the second-seeded Red Devils (21-6) held off the top-seeded Eagles (25-5).

Estancia trailed, 44-34, with six minutes 59 seconds left in the game, but center Matt Fuerbringer keyed an 11-2 run with eight points.

Fuerbringer followed a miss by Mike Haas with 35 seconds left to cut the deficit to 46-45. He stole a bad pass with 25 seconds left to give Estancia the ball.

“We haven’t played in a lot of close games this year,” Fuerbringer said. “We’re such a balanced team that someone usually steps up. I wanted to take over this game.”

He never got the chance.

Estancia, which struggled with its outside shooting the entire game, failed to get the ball inside to Fuerbringer in the final seconds. Fuerbringer, a 6-6 junior, scored 21 points and had a game-high 21 rebounds, but didn’t take the Eagles’ final shot.

That belonged to Ly, who rebounded a short jumper by Paul McDaniels that had been blocked by Pomona’s Johnny McWilliams. Ly’s shot drew iron, but no net.

“Sonny just thought there was a little less time left on the clock,” Estancia Coach Tim O’Brien said. “I didn’t design that last corkscrew jumper. It’s not in our playbook.”

Taylor pulled down the rebound, was fouled and hit the free throws to seal the victory. McWilliams intercepted Fuerbringer’s full-court pass on the inbounds after the free throw to end the game.

“This was very sweet,” Pomona Coach Ed Taylor said. “We’re going to take some time off and enjoy this one before we get ready for the State tournament.”

Both teams shot 28.6% (16 for 56) from the field. Estancia’s guards--Ly, McDaniels and Haas--shot a combined eight for 32 from the field.

O’Brien sensed something was wrong early. Estancia, which had built first-quarter leads of 25-7 and 19-6 in its two previous games, scored only six points in the first quarter Saturday.

“You won’t win many playoff games that way,” O’Brien said. “I don’t criticize our defensive effort, though. When we got down by 10, we could’ve rolled over and died. We played on guts.”

Estancia held McWilliams, who was averaging 27 points a game, to eight. McWilliams, who’s headed to USC on a football scholarship, had 42 against the Eagles last season.

After the game, McWilliams didn’t seem to mind being outscored by his counterpart, Fuerbringer.

“He could have scored 59 and I could’ve had two,” McWilliams said. “But they didn’t get the title, so what does it matter?”