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Boys’ Basketball: Estancia falls in opener of Tustin-Estancia Classic

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The holiday boys’ basketball tournament Estancia High has hosted for many years has a new name.

For 28 years, the Eagles called their tournament the Coast Classic. They have dropped “Coast” from the tournament, replacing it with the names of the schools who now co-host the tournament the day after Christmas.

While the name of the tournament has changed, Estancia’s losing ways in the tournament haven’t. The Eagles opened the Tustin-Estancia Classic with a 76-56 setback at home to Sunny Hills on Friday afternoon.

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Dating back to last season, Estancia has lost five straight games in the tournament, and eight of its last nine. The last time the Eagles won a contest in their tournament was on Dec. 29, 2012. Back then, Xavier Castellano wasn’t the Eagles’ head coach. He was coaching the girls at Estancia.

Castellano is in his first season in charge of the boys at Estancia. His program has a lot of work ahead if it plans to end its woes in its tournament.

“We were in that Four City tournament. We were in the Garden Grove tournament, and, you know, a lot of those teams are around our level,” Castellano said. “I let [my players] know [that] this is a different tournament here. All these teams, not only can they compete with the big boys, some of them are the big boys. If we’re not mentally ready, it’s going to be tough.”

One game into the 16-team tournament and the Eagles (5-5) are in the loser’s bracket. Closing quarters was an issue for them against Sunny Hills (7-3). At the end of the first quarter, the Lancers outscored Estancia, 13-4, and then, 14-3, at the end of the second quarter.

Estancia trailed, 44-27, at halftime, with more than half of Sunny Hills’ points coming on three-pointers. The Lancers knocked down eight threes in the first half, helping them run away from the Eagles and into the next round to face ‘Iolani of Honolulu, Hawaii, on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Tustin High. Estancia is at home against the Los Angeles Center For Enriched Studies at 2:30 p.m.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s a little disappointing,” Castellano said of having to co-host the tournament with another school. “It’s tradition.”

The Eagles’ new tradition appears to be losing to Sunny Hills in the tournament. For the second straight season, the Lancers blew Estancia out.

Sean Tasse led Sunny Hills with six three-point plays, five from behind the arc, and finished with 18 points. The Eagles kept leaving the senior guard open. When Tasse wasn’t burying threes, Dezmond Rowen and Mitchell Fruto hit two apiece, and finished with 16 and eight points, respectively.

Tim Ahn, the point guard, found the wide-open Sunny Hills player. He was two steals away from recording a triple-double, finishing with 17 points, 11 assists and eight steals.

Ahn came up with a big play midway through the second quarter, when Estancia made it a six-point game. The Eagles went on an 8-0 run. Kaena McReynolds, who finished with 20 points, nailed back-to-back threes after Gunnar Johnston (16 points) hit a baseline jumper. Ahn, seeing his team go scoreless for 2 1/2 minutes, ended the drought. He stole the ball in the backcourt and went in for a layup.

“We cut it to six because we slowed down and we ran our offense,” Castellano said. “And I remember I saw my point guard ready to throw the ball, and I said, ‘Slow down!’ Right when I said it, he threw the ball away. They got that layup and they [went on a 9-0 run and took a 39-24 lead].”

The Lancers’ lead grew as high as 33 points with 3 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. They began the second half on a 19-3 run, a stretch in which Tasse swished two threes, one from the corner and another from the top.

Castellano saw enough and called a timeout. His team struggled defending the three. McReynolds and Evan Pettingill (11 points) tried to answer Sunny Hills’ hot outside shooting, producing six and three threes, respectively.

“For one, you have to guard them [when they’re shooting a three],” Castellano said. “You have to know where they’re at. A couple of those times we didn’t get back on [defense]. One of the big things was communication. The kids for some reason … don’t like to talk, and we work on that.”

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Tustin-Estancia Classic

Sunny Hills 76, Estancia 56

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Sunny Hills 24 – 20 – 19 – 13 — 76

Estancia 16 – 11 – 15 – 14 — 56

SH – Tasse 18, Ahn 17, Rowen 16, Pae 9, Fruto 8, Hwang 2, McGee 2, Dixon 2, Yang 2.

3-pt. goals – Tasse 5, Rowen 2, Fruto 2, Ahn 1, Pae 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

Est – McReynolds 20, Johnston 16, Pettingill 11, Van Dyke 5, Brown 4.

3-pt. goals – McReynolds 6, Pettingill 3, Van Dyke 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

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