Candlish, Estancia Start Slow but Win
Estancia Coach Tim Parsel was a little anxious Wednesday night when star center Chris Candlish picked up his third foul late in the first half against visiting Laguna Hills.
After all, Candlish was at home in bed with pneumonia the first time the teams met and Estancia lost by 13 points.
However, Parsel’s nerves settled a bit when Estancia, without Candlish, took a seven-point lead just before halftime. And despite missing a good part of the second half, Candlish came on to finish with 16 points and lead Estancia to a 51-48 Pacific Coast League victory.
“We finally get him back to play them and then he has to sit out because of foul trouble,” said Parsel of Candlish, who averages 16.5 points and eight rebounds.
“We look to him, but I had to keep him out of there.”
Stepping up in Candlish’s absence was Nick Novak, who scored 13 points, including three key free throws in the final 43 seconds for first-place Estancia (19-4, 6-1 in league), which now has a two-game lead in the standings.
Laguna Hills (14-8, 4-3) fell into a second-place tie with Laguna Beach (10-11, 4-3), which also lost Wednesday.
Laguna Hills failed to capitalize on several layups and the defense didn’t rise to the occasion this time.
Mike Scaglione, the team’s leading scorer who averages 17 points, finished with 15 points for the Hawks, but only five in the second half. Laguna Hills made only 10 of 27 field goals in the second half.
“We didn’t play well,” Scaglione said. “We weren’t running our offense and we didn’t step up on defense.”
Especially early, when Candlish went to the free-throw line often as Estancia pounded the ball inside as much as it could. But Candlish made only three of his first six free throws. He made three of his first four field-goal attempts, and looked to be on a roll until getting his second and third fouls within a 20-second span of the second quarter.
Dane Plock sank all his free throws after being fouled on a three-point shot attempt to break a 31-31 tie just before the second quarter ended and Estancia never trailed again.
The Eagles extended that lead to as many as seven points in the second half, but Laguna Hills, taking advantage of a few missed layup attempts by Estancia, cut the lead to 47-45 with 29 seconds left on a basket by Saia Makakaufaki off a nice assist pass from Scaglione.
Novak made two free throws, but Scaglione answered with three free throws after being fouled, cutting the lead to 49-48 with 12 seconds left.
Dane Plock, fouled quickly by Laguna Hills, made two free throws for Estancia and Laguna Hills couldn’t get a shot off in the final 10 seconds.