HIGH SCHOOLS:Mum on Eagles’ Pinto

A teammate once said senior point guard Blake Pinto felt like the weight of the Estancia High boys’ basketball team was on his shoulders.

Well, not anymore. Pinto is no longer playing for the Eagles and no one is saying why.

First-year coach Scott Kahawai said Monday that Pinto’s departure is an internal matter and that he prefers not to discuss it. The Eagles have been without their leading scorer for more than a week, and a possible return is unlikely.

“We’re just kind of standing pat,” said Kahawai, adding that senior Trevor McDonald will assume Pinto’s role in the lineup. “It was my decision.”

Estancia has struggled under Kahawai, starting 2-16. Since transitioning to a new coach after Jason Simco resigned after two seasons in June, there have been signs of problems between Pinto and Kahawai during the Eagles’ 13-game slide.

In the Eagles’ 74-32 first-round loss to Chaparral of Temecula at the Estancia Coast Classic on Dec. 27, Pinto yelled at a teammate on the bench urging him to pass the ball. Coaches had to restrain Pinto from approaching the player. While doing so, Pinto received a technical foul and also talked back to Kahawai and his assistant.

“It’s a source of frustration,” said Kahawai after the nonleague game on Dec. 27. “He ended up kind of lashing out at everybody and anybody, and we paid the price for that.”

Forward Taylor McClanahan said one reason for Pinto’s annoyance can be attributed to the team’s makeup.

“He’s still trying to figure stuff out and a lot of the players,” McClanahan said after the Chaparral game. “We don’t have as many natural basketball players as we did before. So it’s a slower learning process. Blake’s just used to playing with me and Troy [McClanahan], who get it. Our starters from last year really kind of knew the game.

“We’re just not at the level he’s used to and it frustrates him. He feels like the weight of the team is on his shoulders.”

After being on the other end of drubbings during a 3-20 campaign last year, the Eagles are 6-8 this year and three of those victories were blowouts.

Under first-year coach Tommy Rausch, the Eagles beat Santiago, 49-25, on Jan. 8, Pomona Catholic, 64-29, on Dec. 20 and Laguna Beach, 54-22, Tuesday. It marked the first time they’ve won games by 24 or more points since the 2004-05 season.

Last year, they dropped seven games by 20 or more points.

Kaluz, a junior center, left the Pacific Coast League game at Laguna Hills with 16 points and watched CdM lose, 64-63. He couldn’t attend the Sea Kings’ nonleague win Monday against Mission Viejo at the Martin Luther King Classic at Century High due to receiving two technical fouls.

“We’ve been working on his demeanor. He gets too fired up,” said CdM Coach Ryan Schachter, adding that Kaluz recorded his first technical for slamming the ball down in the first quarter and the second for elbowing a player in the face trying to swipe the ball away in the fourth. “He likes to bark at the refs, and we’re definitely trying to control that.

“Sometimes it’s a great learning experience for a kid to have to go through that.”

Bryan Bennett (15-6) hurt his right knee during his 215-pound match in a nonleague dual meet Tuesday at Gahr.

“He twisted his right knee,” said Bulone, who in his eighth year has seen his team beat Huntington Beach for the first time and also have one wrestler win a title at the Estancia New Year Classic, where four Sailors placed in the top eight. “He told me that the doctor said that at the least he’d be out for two weeks. Could be more.”

With Bennett on crutches and out of the lineup, Newport Harbor will go young at 215 pounds.

Cameron Rausch, a sophomore, started Thursday’s Sunset League meet against Esperanza. He lost, as did every teammate except Josh George at 135 pounds. Esperanza won, 69-4.

Bulone hopes Bennett could return, giving him three legit CIF Southern Section individual meet qualifiers.

“Assuming Bennett is healthy, I would say Bennett, [heavyweight Brian] Beaudette and Josh George for sure,” Bulone said.

De La Mater, one of three varsity wrestlers, hasn’t lost a regular-season league match in two years.