THE PREPS : Turn the Tide : Byrne, Richardson Have Helped Put Estancia on High Road

The names are the same but everything else has changed for the Estancia boys’ basketball team this season.

Last season, with a talented, junior-dominated squad, the Eagles bickered and bumbled their way to a third-place finish in the Pacific Coast League before exiting in the first round of the playoffs.

But a year older and wiser, the Eagles are 22-3, 9-0 in league. In the Southern Section poll, the Eagles are ranked fourth in Division III, the highest spot for a Division III-A team.

“(Last season) was not a fun year and it was a pretty rough go for the juniors,” Estancia Coach Tim Parsel said. “But they’re using that experience, and now, it’s the fun part. The kids have worked real hard to get here.”

There are no better examples of the Eagles’ transformation, inside and out, than seniors Kevin Byrne and Zack Richardson.

When Byrne began his basketball career at Estancia, he was a 5-foot-8 freshman who made little impact. But as he grew 12 inches in three years and his skills improved, Byrne has developed into one of Estancia’s dominant big men.

Richardson always displayed the court skills that coaches liked to see, but he didn’t display the right temperament. This season, Richardson’s emotions are in check and his game is under control.

Byrne and Richardson are two of the main reasons the Eagles, ranked fifth in Orange County, have moved to within one victory of clinching the Pacific Coast League title. Only tonight’s opponent, Laguna Beach (15-9, 8-1), stands in the way.

But Byrne and Richardson are only two of the contributors to Estancia’s turnaround.

Estancia--with five players averaging between eight and 11 points--has one of the most balanced attacks in the county.

Heading into this week’s games, center Chris Candlish, a 6-6, 240-pound junior, was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, barely.

Candlish and Byrne are each averaging 10.6 points, but Candlish has 265 points and Byrne has 264 points in 25 games. Richardson is averaging 10 points, Dane Plock 9.6 and Tom Feeney 7.9.

“The numbers don’t tell the story,” Parsel said. “We’ve had seven different leading scorers in games this season.”

Said Byrne: “If we had one guy who scored all the points, we’d be easier to stop.”

Byrne hasn’t been easy for opponents to handle. He shot 74% from the field in the first eight league games.

“He’s been unstoppable,” Parsel said.

Byrne, with Candlish and reserve front-line players Kevin Radisay (6-4) and Casey Hammond (6-4), have given opponents fits inside.

“But their teammates’ ability to get them the ball has also been important,” Parsel said. “I’ve never had a team that had such balance inside and outside.”

While Byrne and Co. hammer away in the paint, Richardson, Plock and Feeney fire away from three-point range.

Said Byrne: “If a team tries to double down in the post, then Tom, Dane and Zack have wide-open threes. If you guard them, then guys like me and Chris have a lot of room to move and we like that.

“If a team wants to beat us, they’ll have to play a good game.”

Not many teams have been up to that task. And when Estancia has lost, it has been by the narrowest of margins.

The Eagles lost to Santa Ana Valley, now ranked sixth in the county, in the Irvine World News tournament final, 62-58. The Eagles also lost to Corona del Mar, 61-59, and Dana Hills, 73-70, in early-season tournaments.

“We only got positive things out of those losses,” Richardson said. “It showed us that we can be beat if we don’t come ready to play.

“I think everyone has matured. It’s like we knew last year we’d be back next season, but now, it’s our last year. We have to take advantage of what we have now.”

Byrne remembers where the Eagles were last season and doesn’t want any repeat performances.

“We lost a lot more often,” Byrne said. “We would argue with each other, so the coaches made us run a lot more.

“But everything started coming together for us in summer league. After we lost to Corona del Mar, we met at Chris’ house and said to each other that it’s got to be different this season. We have to play hard and play together.”

So far the Eagles have done that, and now their mission is two-thirds complete.

“We broke the season into three parts,” Parsel said. “The nonleague games, we wanted to shake out the loose bugs, then the main goal was to win league.

“I don’t think anyone had any doubts that we would go to the playoffs. (The players) know there are some high expectations because they have the ability to play quite a few post-season games.

“But we’re not playing people on past performances. We have to keep up our intensity.”