Height Advantage Pays for Estancia : Prep basketball: No. 3 Eagles open Pacific Coast League play with 66-45 victory over No. 10 Laguna Beach.

Estancia High School’s Pacific Coast League basketball opener against Laguna Beach Friday night boiled down to the Eagles’ strong inside game against the Artists’ pressing defense and three-point bombing.

And it was Estancia, ranked third in Orange County, using its height advantage and consistent shooting to pull away for a 66-45 victory over the 10th-ranked Artists at Estancia.

The game quickly turned into a contrast in shooting philosophy. Estancia (12-4, 1-0 in league) worked the ball inside, making 22 of 37 shots from the field (59%) and hitting 21 of 24 free throws (87%). Laguna Beach (9-5) gunned from the outside, hitting 17 of 64 from the field (26%), including eight for 24 from three-point range.

“We shot damn poor tonight,” Laguna Beach Coach Bret Fleming said. “We had some opportunities to get back in the game, but we couldn’t knock down the shots. And when we don’t make our shots, we can’t get back into our full-court press and big teams like Estancia start to hurt us.”

The press forced 19 Estancia turnovers, but when the Eagles did break it, they scored almost at will.

Laguna Beach’s small lineup struggled against Estancia’s front line of 6-foot-7 Matt Fuerbringer, 6-4 Jim Faulkner and 6-4 Ty Schisler.

Fuerbringer scored 22 points, made nine of 13 shots from the field, including seven in a row during a stretch in the second and third quarters. He had a game-high 10 rebounds and had consecutive alley-oop slam dunks in the third quarter that gave Estancia a 45-27 lead.

“Those dunks might have been the back-breakers,” Estancia Coach Tim O’Brien said.

Faulkner scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half as the Eagles built a 37-25 halftime lead. Guard Joe Edson had 11 points and Schisler added six.

O’Brien was pleased with the Eagles’ play, but added that it would be difficult for them to defend their league championship. The Eagles have two showdowns with Trabuco Hills and a rematch with Laguna Beach in the next five weeks.

“I think Laguna Beach is still the scariest team in the league,” O’Brien said. “They don’t have the size that we and Trabuco have, but at least when you play Trabuco, you know what’s coming. You never know what will happen with Laguna Beach.”

Taylor Butcher came off the bench to score 12 points for Laguna Beach. Tom Ravensburg had 11 and Darren Gravley added 10.

In other league games:

Trabuco Hills 91, Costa Mesa 62--Pat Barnes had 18 points and eight rebounds, and Brett Poulos added 14 for Trabuco Hills (11-5, 1-0). Center Gavin Vanderputten added 12 points and Nate Saito had five assists for Trabuco Hills. Jeff Pickens led Costa Mesa with 19 points.

Century 56, Laguna Hills 46--Jason Welty, who had six rebounds and went seven for eight at the free-throw line, scored a game-high 17 points for Century (12-3, 1-0).