PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE : Century Takes Frustration Out on First-Place Estancia

The Century High School boys’ basketball team will likely have to petition the Southern Section for an at-large berth in the Division I-A playoffs. But the Centurions must feel good about their chances of playing in the postseason following a 42-38 victory over Estancia Wednesday night.

It has been a frustrating season for Century. The Centurions lost their point guard, Luis Mendez, in their opening summer league game when he broke his ankle.

Then three-year starters Jason Welty and Darvin Thompson decided to try out for football when they failed to receive any scholarship offers, further disrupting a potential league championship team.

Things got worse when Thompson had to have fluid drained from his knee, causing him to miss three games. And the Centurions appeared to hit rock bottom last week when they lost consecutive games to Costa Mesa and Laguna Beach to fall into fifth place in the Pacific Coast League.

But Wednesday night, host Century (4-5, 15-8) withstood a furious third-quarter rally by Estancia.

Estancia (6-3, 13-11) was looking to clinch at least a tie for the league title, but now must beat Laguna Beach in Friday’s finale to earn a co-championship with Trabuco Hills (6-3, 19-6), which figures to win it’s final league game against Costa Mesa.

“We’ve beaten both first-place teams in our league, plus we beat the third-place team (Laguna Beach) in a tournament game, so I feel good about our chances of getting into the playoffs,” said Century Coach Greg Coombs.

What the Centurions couldn’t do was handle Estancia’s pressure in the third quarter.

Century committed 14 turnovers in the second half and fell behind, 32-30, after Estancia center Joel Warrick hit a three-point shot with 1:20 remaining. But the comeback took some life out of the Eagles and they faltered in the fourth quarter.

In other league games:

Trabuco Hills 63, Laguna Hills 52--Brett Poulos scored 15 points for visiting Trabuco Hills (19-6, 6-3). Bryan Jones had 16 points for Laguna Hills (9-13, 3-6).

Laguna Beach 68, Costa Mesa 47--Taylor Butcher had 19 points for host Laguna Beach (13-9, 5-4). Francisco Corona scored 14 points for Costa Mesa (3-6 in league).