Mesa, three-pointer take down Estancia

Dino Pepic usually comes off the bench for the Costa Mesa High boys’ basketball team. He is one of the Mustangs’ top two reserves, but on Friday night, in the biggest game in Costa Mesa, the senior found himself in the starting lineup.

Coach Phil Weber said he sat one of his starters in the Battle for the Bell rivalry for disciplinary reasons, opening up a spot for Pepic. He looked nervous during the team’s first possession against Estancia, turning the ball over in the left corner, right behind the three-point line. The ball slipped out of Pepic’s hands and went out of bounds.

The next time Costa Mesa went to Pepic in the same spot, he took care of the ball and fired a three-pointer, nailing it 44 seconds into the game.

Pepic isn’t the type of player who hesitates taking a three. He wound up knocking down three three-pointers during a first half in which the Mustangs made seven of their first 12 shots from behind the arc, allowing them to take a 22-point lead.

Pepic filled in quite admirably, finishing with four threes, giving him 14 points in the Mustangs’ 61-46 win at home. Costa Mesa easily claimed the first game in the Orange Coast League series against the Eagles.

“I just knew that I had a big role tonight,” Pepic said. “I know my team was counting on me to hit the threes.”

The Mustangs needed Pepic because they played without two key seniors, Calvin Ko (disciplinary) and Simon Daniel (ankle). Without the two, Costa Mesa (9-10, 2-1 in league) still found ways to knock off Estancia (10-10, 1-2) for the second straight time.

The three-point shot proved to be a huge asset for Costa Mesa, and it wasn’t by accident that it attempted 16 threes by halftime.

The Eagles zoned the Mustangs, trying to slow down Costa Mesa’s big man, Mason Tufuga. The 6-foot-6 senior still hurt the Eagles, recording eight of his 17 points in the first half, and he grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked two shots. Tufuga made eight of 10 shots.

“We wanted them to junk it up [from three-point range],” Estancia Coach Xavier Castellano said. “It’s a low-percentage shot usually, but they hit it.”

Pepic drained two threes in the first quarter, and Nabeel Salameh had another. Pepic’s second triple allowed Costa Mesa to close out the first on a 14-2 run and take a 17-6 lead.

The Mustangs’ lead almost doubled in the first 4½ minutes in the second quarter because of the three. Chris Calderon, Jack Perez, Pepic and Nico Dasca each buried a three. The Mustangs caught fire, going four of five from the three-point line to go ahead, 33-12.

“We kind of expected the zone,” Weber said. “Usually we’re not the best [against the] zone, but tonight everyone was ready and they just came out firing.”

The Mustangs eventually cooled down from the outside. After Pepic hit his fourth three with 6:38 left in the third quarter, Costa Mesa made only one of 10 three-pointers the rest of the way.

Estancia, which trailed, 37-15 at halftime, picked it up offensively in the second half. Cameron Jones recorded 17 of his 19 points in the final two quarters.

Jones’ best quarter was the fourth. The sophomore guard made each of his four shots in the final quarter, including a three, and he helped Estancia cut the deficit to 45-32 early in the fourth.

That would be the closest Estancia got to Costa Mesa in the final eight minutes. Dasca, who had eight points, made a three, and then Salameh assisted on a Tufuga layup to push the lead back to 18 points.

Salameh turned in an all-around strong performance, finishing with 10 points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists. He contributed to the Mustangs slowing down Estancia’s top player, Evan Pettingill, who finished with seven points, 10 below his season average.

“He’s trying to do the right thing, but sometimes when you try to do too much, it doesn’t work,” Castellano said of Pettingill, who was three-for-eight shooting.

Costa Mesa won the turnover battle, committing only four to Estancia’s 13. Taking care of the ball contributed to Costa Mesa’s success against the Eagles, who last season won the Battle for the Bell for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

These same two programs shared last place in league last season, but Tufuga believes the Mustangs can contend for a lot more this season.

“Our whole goal is to win league,” said Tufuga, whose team’s only setback in league came at home, in a 60-51 loss to league favorite Laguna Beach on Wednesday. “We knew that in order for us to even have a chance to share the league title, or even win it [outright], we had to win today.”

Orange Coast League

Costa Mesa 61, Estancia 46

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Estancia 6 – 9 – 13 – 18 — 46

Costa Mesa 17 – 20 – 8 – 16 — 61

E – Jones 19, Alama 8, Pettingill 7, C. Brown 7, Van Dyke 3, Carrasco 2.

3-pt. goals – Pettingill 1, C. Brown 1, Jones 1, Van Dyke 1.

Fouled out – C. Brown.

Technicals – None.

CM – Tufuga 17, Pepic 14, Salameh 10, Dasca 8, Calderon 7, Perez 3, Taylor 2.

3-pt. goals – Pepic 4, Dasca 2, Salameh 1, Calderon 1, Perez 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.