Prep Basketball : Empire League Roundup : Los Alamitos Gets on Track, Runs Down Cypress, 64-56

It wasn’t a track meet, but Los Alamitos and Cypress high schools crammed Los Alamitos’ court Friday night with enough speedy, guard-like players to run a pretty good relay.

Both teams treated the opening tip-off as if it were a starter’s gun. And after 32 minutes of up-tempo, fast-breaking basketball, Los Alamitos sprinted past Cypress, 64-56, and forced a tie for second place in the Empire League with Cypress with identical 4-2 records.

There were enough length-of-the-court passes Friday night--and colliding bodies--to make a hockey fan happy. And there was even a mid-court sparring session between the two teams.

Los Alamitos, however, played a better game. The Griffins (9-11 overall) dominated the boards, outrebounding Cypress, 40-28. Center Robert Conlisk and forward Todd Chesebro pulled down 10 rebounds apiece, and forward Anthony Napolitano added 9 to give the Griffins’ guards more than enough fuel to feed Los Alamitos’ fast break.

Cypress (9-11 overall) managed to get back into the game in the late minutes, though, mostly by virtue of Gabe Trinidad’s sharpshooting from the foul line. Trinidad (who made 13 of 14 free throws) and Cypress forward Mark Johnson led all scorers with 19 points.

With less than 4 minutes left, Jared Rice’s 3-pointer cut Los Alamitos’ lead to 4 and prompted the Griffins to call a timeout. But the Griffins threaded their way through Cypress’ full-court press and pulled away on Chesebro’s lay-up off an assist from Brent Overbeek.

“We fell behind by 10 early on,� said Cypress Coach Kevin Loftus, “and we’re just not an offensive juggernaut. We scrapped, but we couldn’t get back all the way.�

Actually, it was Los Alamitos guard Dan Stockwell who did most of the scrapping. Cypress had just trimmed the Griffins’ lead to 40-30 in the third quarter on a Johnson jumper, when Stockwell battled for a loose ball at mid-court with Trinidad.

Stockwell came up off the floor swinging--first at Trinidad, and then at Rice, who at 5-foot 8-inches was the smallest player on the court. Stockwell didn’t land enough punches, however, for the referees to eject him. In fact, the foul was called on Trinidad, and Stockwell got the last laugh with a pair of free throws.

Shooting guard Mike Wilson was off target in the first half, but he led the Griffins with 16 points, including a trio of 3-pointers in the third quarter.

In other Empire League games:

Loara 68, Katella 50--Tes Whitlock had 21 points and 6 assists to lead host Loara (4-13, 2-4). The Saxons led, 51-44, after 3 quarters and put the game away by outscoring the Knights, 17-6, in the fourth quarter. Joe Gaudio scored 19 points for Loara. Brad Leonard had 8 points and 10 rebounds for the Saxons. Brian Yourstone scored 18 points for Katella (6-12, 2-4).

El Dorado 91, Esperanza 67--The host Golden Hawks put the game away in the first half as they led, 53-29, at halftime. Mike Renuad scored 19 points and Jerome Facione 17 for El Dorado (16-4, 6-0). Matt Luke and Mike Bradach each scored 15 points for the Golden Hawks. Luke also had 15 rebounds and Bradach 10 assists. Joe Foss scored 17 points and Greg Pope 15 for Esperanza, 6-14, 0-6).