Late flurry lifts Estancia boys’ basketball to first league title since 2020
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The Estancia High boys’ basketball team formed a giant mob at center court, jumping around in jubilation at the final buzzer.
And for good reason. A league championship is not easy.
The Eagles trailed visiting Rancho Alamitos for much of Tuesday night’s Grove League finale. But they showed the heart of a champion down the stretch, rallying for a 53-49 victory that earned them a share of the league title.
Estancia and La Quinta shared the league title with identical 6-2 records. It’s the Eagles’ first league crown since 2020, and just their third since 1997.
Emotions were high on the Eagles’ senior night, and the 10 seniors can now say they went out as league champions. Senior Lincoln Silva led with a team-high 16 points, while senior co-captain Miles Dodge had 11 points and 13 rebounds.
“The whole year, we’ve been in close games,” said Estancia senior co-captain Drew Romine, who chipped in eight points. “Sometimes we haven’t finished, like [losses to Orange and Oxford Academy in double and triple overtime, respectively] and some other games.
“This game was obviously different, it was a league title game. Our coaches were really fired up and so were we, so we just kicked it into another gear and came out with it.”
Estancia (18-8 overall) had also lost a close game at Rancho Alamitos (10-18, 3-5) in the teams’ first league meeting. The Vaqueros appeared prime to play spoilers on Tuesday night.
They used a late first-half spurt to go into halftime up 30-22, with Estancia coach Xavier Castellano kicking his chair in disgust. The Eagles battled back, taking a 41-40 lead after three quarters on a corner three-pointer by sophomore Jack Schroeder, assisted by Dodge. Junior Jaden Vivar had a seven-point surge in the quarter.
Still, Rancho Alamitos led 49-44 within the final three minutes of the contest. But the visitors would not score again.
Schroeder’s third triple of the night brought Estancia within two points, then a Dodge put-back tied the score with 1:25 to play.
Dodge, a four-year starter who had missed four straight free throws earlier in the half, buried two big ones to give Estancia a 51-49 lead in the final minute. He said assistant coach Chris Sorce pulled him aside and reminded him of the slogan, “Think of the clown, slow everything down.”
The saying references an inflatable clown that can be punched, but slowly gets back up.
“You’ve just got to think of the clown, get right back up and knock them down,” Dodge said.
After Rancho missed a jumper on the other end, Schroeder grabbed the rebound. Silva made two free throws with 12 seconds left to provide the game’s final points.
Both Castellano brothers could sleep well. For the first time, Xavier Castellano’s Estancia boys’ basketball team and Robert Castellano’s boys’ soccer team have won league titles in the same season. One player, senior Gabe Johner, competed on both squads.
Estancia alumnus and former coach Jason Simco coached CdM boys’ basketball to a Sunset League title this season, as well.
“Three Estancia guys, which is just awesome,” said Xavier Castellano, who has now won five total league titles coaching for his alma mater, three in girls’ basketball and two in boys’ basketball. “For this school — and this is not to badmouth anyone — we don’t recruit, we don’t have transfers, we don’t have 30-day sit-outs. We’re a public school to the fullest.”
Castellano said he was proud of his group, which battled injuries this season — Dodge missed time with a partially torn plantar fascia, and Romine with an ankle injury. Senior Chris Garibay missed the whole season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in the summer.
Six of the Eagles’ eight losses this season have been by six points or fewer, but on Tuesday night Estancia figured out how to come through in the stretch for a league title. The boys’ basketball CIF playoff brackets will be released on Saturday, and the Eagles head into the postseason on a four-game winning streak.
Last year, Estancia finished 7-21 and missed the playoffs.
“Going from 7-21 to this, it’s big,” Dodge said. “It takes a lot of discipline and coaches reinforcing that we can be good after that pretty bad, atrocious year. It means a lot.”
Senior guard Jden Siquig led Rancho Alamitos with 16 points, and junior guard Trustehn Lam Sam scored 14.
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Grove League
Estancia 53, Rancho Alamitos 49
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Rancho 15 - 15 - 10 - 9 — 49
Estancia 12 - 10 - 19 - 12 — 53
RA — Siquig 16, T. Lam Sam 14, Nguyen-Chong 6, J. Lam Sam 6, Bui 2, Carbajal 2, Ramos 2, Baron 1.
3-pt. goals — Siquig 2, T. Lam Sam 2, Nguyen-Chong 2.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
E — Silva 16, Dodge 11, Schroeder 9, Romine 8, Vivar 7, Christensen 2.
3-pt. goals — Schroeder 3, Silva 2, Romine 1, Vivar 1.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
