PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE : Manning’s Last-Minute Basket Gives Trabuco Hills the Title

COSTA MESA — Erik Manning was an unlikely hero Wednesday night for the Trabuco Hills High School boys’ basketball team.

Manning, the team’s sixth man, grabbed a loose ball under his own basket with 23 seconds remaining and scored on a follow shot to give Trabuco Hills a 55-53 victory over Estancia in a battle for the Pacific Coast League championship.

The victory was Trabuco Hills’ second over Estancia and clinched the title in the six-team league. Trabuco Hills (19-5, 9-0) beat Estancia, 62-59, in the first round of league play. It is Trabuco Hills’ third league championship in the last four years.

“They (league titles) are all great, but this was the toughest one yet,” Trabuco Hills Coach Rainer Wulf said. “Somehow, we’ve managed to win every close game we’ve been involved in this year.”

This time, Trabuco Hills almost cut it too close. Estancia led the entire game until Trabuco Hills center Gavin Vanderputten made two free throws with 1:24 remaining to push his team ahead, 53-51.

Even the go-ahead free throws were a struggle. Vanderputten had missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, but Estancia was cited for being in the lane too early on the miss. When Vanderputten got a second chance, he made both shots.

But Estancia (19-6, 7-2) managed to tie the score, 53-53, with 49 seconds left after forward Matt Fuerbringer made two free throws. Fuerbringer had been inconsistent at the free-throw line all evening, and had missed seven of 13 before making the final two. He also missed a final shot at the buzzer, firing an 18-foot airball from the baseline as time expired.

Afterward, Estancia Coach Tim O’Brien recalled four critical plays down the stretch that cost his team a chance of moving into a first-place tie with Trabuco Hills.

“This was a tough loss to take,” O’Brien said. “We missed all those free throws (Estancia made 14 of 23), we had that lane violation, we allowed that offensive board and shot by Manning and we only managed an airball at the end.

“We didn’t execute the last two minutes of the game. The foul trouble hurt us, but they also did a good job of defending us.”

Estancia opened with a defense designed to contain Vanderputten, the 6-foot-10 exchange student from Australia. O’Brien had his two guards defend Trabuco Hills guards man-to-man and collapsed three big men inside on Vanderputten. The ploy resulted in Trabuco Hills committing 11 turnovers in the first quarter and Vanderputten being shut out until midway through the second quarter.

Vanderputten had only eight points before making five of six shots and both free throw attempts in the fourth quarter to finish with 20 points.