TEMECULA — The Estancia boys basketball team, at times Friday night, was able to take away the Temecula Valley player with the hottest hand.
But as soon at that happened, a new player stepped up and started knocking down shots for the Golden Bears.
Estancia’s Jaedon Hose-Shea tries to evade Temecula Valley’s Tyler Sydnor while bringing the ball up the court during a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Estancia’s Jaedon Hose-Shea scores a basket in the first half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Temecula Valley’s Channing Shelton goes high to block a shot during the first half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Temecula Valley’s Jeremiah Profit makes a slam dunk in the first half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Temecula Valley’s Tyler Sydney goes up to score a basket in the second half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Estancia’s Jaedon Hose-Shea looks to pass the ball during a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
An Estancia player attempts to get the ball from Temecula Valley’s Channing Shelton in the second half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Temecula Valley6’s Liam Hodgkinson attempts to score in the first half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
The opening tip off between Estancia’s Peter Sanchez and Temecula Valley’s Jeremiah Profit to start a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Temecula Valley’s Jeremiah Profit looks to score in the second half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Temecula Valley’s Jeremiah Profit shoots the ball during the first half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Estancia’s Jaedon Hose-Shea attempts to score in the first half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Temecula Valley’s Liam Hodgkinson scores a basket in the second half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Temecula Valley’s Tyler Sydney shoots the ball in the first half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Temecula Valley’s Jeremiah Profit brings the ball up court in the second half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Estancia’s Jaedon Hose-Shea attempts to score during the first half of a CIF Southern Section Division 4A basketball semifinal game between the Temecula Valley Golden Bears and the Estancia Eagles on Friday night at Temecula Valley High School. Temecula Valley won the game 95-79. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contributing Photographer)
Liam Hodgkinson, Fabian Ruiz, Jeremiah Profit and Taj Jackson shined at different moments and spearheaded another offensive outburst. The Golden Bears made 16 shots from behind the arc en route to a 95-79 victory in a CIF Southern Section Division 4A semifinal game.
Temecula Valley (18-14) will square off against Northview (24-9) for the Division 4A championship Feb. 23 or 24 at a site to be determined. The top-seeded Golden Bears are averaging 92.3 points per game in the postseason, including a 120-point effort in the opening round.
“We’ve really prided ourselves on our tempo and being able to run up and down the court without getting tired,” Temecula Valley coach James Profit said. “We worked hard on conditioning, starting all the way back in the fall, to make sure the legs would be there at the end of games.”
Hodgkinson, a sophomore, finished with a game-high 27 points and drained five 3-pointers. Ruiz, a freshman, scored 25 points despite not playing the fourth quarter and sank seven 3-pointers. Jeremiah Profit, another freshman, stacked the stat sheets with 15 points, eight rebounds and a team-leading seven assists. Jackson, a junior co-captain, added 11 points and five assists for the Golden Bears.
“We have so many players who can step up and score, and we all trust one another,” Jeremiah Profit said. “It makes things pretty easy.”
It certainly looked that way in the opening period, as Temecula Valley made 14 of 22 shots from the field to grab a 33-21 advantage. Ruiz led the way for the Bears with 13 points in the first quarter, while Profit and Hodgkinson added nine and seven points, respectively.
“I think having that strong start was very important,” Ruiz said. “We got the energy going from the start and tried not to let up.”
Estancia (23-9) made 10 of 16 shots in that opening period, with senior point guard Jaedon Hose-Shea leading the way with 11 points. The Eagles had early success when they switched into a zone defense in the second quarter and even cut the deficit to seven points.
Profit and Ruiz nailed 3-pointers on back-to-back possession, helping the Golden Bears get the lead back up to 12 points at intermission.
Estancia made 30 of 52 shots (57.7%) in the game and was hitting at a 64.1% clip entering the final quarter. Despite those numbers, the closest the Warriors got in the second half was eight points, 64-56 when Hose-Shea buried a 3-pointer to cap an 8-0 scoring run.
“We just couldn’t get many stops on defense,” Estancia coach Xavier Castellanos. “We tried to find a weakness. There weren’t many.”
Hodgkinson scored 20 points in the second half, including a pair of 3-pointers at the end of the third quarter that pushed the lead to 73-60.
“Our coaches have confidence in us and encourage to take those open shots,” said Hodgkinson, who also had eight rebounds Friday.
Castellanos said the defensive goal at the start was to contain Profit and Jackson, which the Warriors accomplished after the opening quarter.
“That might have been one of the best games we’ve played all year,” Castellanos said. “But they still were the better team tonight.
“No. 11 (Ruiz) and No. 13 (Hodgkinson) were unbelievable. I think those two were the biggest reasons Temecula Valley won tonight.”
Hose-Shea led the way for Estancia with 24 points and six rebounds. Nik Paguirigan and Peter Sanchez each added 14 points for the Warriors, who will have a week off before their first game in the CIF State playoffs.
