Garden Grove League : Rancho Alamitos Puts Aztecs Off Beat

La Quinta High School planned to control the tempo in its game against Rancho Alamitos. However, the Aztecs turned the ball over their first three possessions and Rancho Alamitos converted each for a basket on its way to a 53-36 victory in Garden Grove League play Wednesday at La Quinta.

Rancho Alamitos leads the league with a 6-1 record. La Quinta fell to 4-3.

“We just have to face the fact that they’re better than us,” La Quinta Coach Jim Perry said. “They just buried those first three shots and we never recovered. They have a well-balanced attack.”

Leading the Vaqueros were Ruben Patton and Don Ngyuyen, who each scored 12 points. Nathan Barker of La Quinta led all scorers with 14 points.

RANCHO ALAMITOS (53)--Patton 12, Velasquez 4, Perry 8, Hong 2, Nguyen 12, Carter 8, Tryon 4, Metcalf 3.

LA QUINTA (36)--Lee 2, St. John 7, Barker 14, Zugates 11, Buford 2.

Santiago 69, Garden Grove 50--Forward Darryl Curry led Santiago (3-4) with 19 points and Thanara Tran added 14. Senior center Jim O’Connor led all scorers with 20 points. Garden Grove (5-2 in league) dropped from a first-place tie with Rancho Alamitos.

SANTIAGO (69)--Tran 14, Curry 19, Burns 11, Correa 6, Avila 15, Jobst 2, Castro 2.

GARDEN GROVE (50)--Crone 4, Duran 4, O’Connor 20, Kaser 2, Kiefer 10, Kanagae 4, Woodward 2, Guibord 4.