Empire League : Katella Gains 20th Straight Playoff Spot With 65-56 Win

Katella High School earned its 20th consecutive trip to the CIF Southern Section playoffs Friday night with a convincing 65-56 victory over Los Alamitos in front of a capacity crowd in the Griffins’ gym.

The Knights received some unexpected play from guards Jim Anderson, Wayne Petrakis and John Sunu in the last quarter and kept their one-game lead over El Dorado with two games remaining in the Empire League.

Sunu had a steal and made three free throws in the final 51 seconds of play to give Katella its 11th victory in 12 league games. Los Alamitos, now 9-3, fell out of a tie for second place and faces another difficult test on Wednesday night when the Griffins host El Dorado.

Anderson scored seven of his nine points in the final quarter as Katella outscored Los Alamitos, 22-14. Katella made 10 of 14 free-throw attempts in the last quarter to seal the victory.

Los Alamitos led only once, 44-43, with 7:37 left in the game following a jump shot by Mark Schmitz. Katella answered with a basket and then a three-point play by Anderson and suddenly the Knights were back in control, 48-44.

“That was the turning point in the game,” said Steve Brooks, Los Alamitos coach. “We got the lead and I thought we were in good shape. Then, we throw the ball away, foul the kid for a three-point play and all of a sudden we’re down by four points.”

The game was an uphill struggle for the Griffins. They fell behind, 23-8, in the first quarter and missed their opening eight shots. But some fine free-throw shooting and a vocal crowd helped Los Alamitos get back in the ballgame. Los Alamitos made 22 of 28 free-throw attempts.

“Our guards came through in the end,” said Tom Danley, Katella coach. “We knew we had to start fast and jump on them. We did the same thing the first time we played them. I thought our press, tough man-to-man defense and pressure would be our sixth man tonight.

“We got a great start, and then we struggled. If we can just hang on for two more games, we’ll be league champs. I’m tickled to death that we’ve made the playoffs.”

As usual, the Knights’ big men--Richard Lucas and Bob Erbst--supplied the offense. Lucas led all scorers with 21 points and had 12 rebounds. Erbst had 17 points and 17 rebounds. J.T. Snow paced the Griffins with 19 points.

Kennedy 73, Esperanza 56--Four players scored in double figures for the Irish as they gained the comeback win. The Aztecs took a 15-12 lead in the first quarter on the strength of Kirk Branstetter’s 11 points. He finished with 25 points, but Kennedy (5-7, 9-12) eventually pulled away from Esperanza (3-9, 7-13).

Michael Keith led the Irish with 18 points followed by Darrin Queen with 16, Glenn Mares with 15 and Danny Curry with 11. Mike Vincent scored 14 points and Ross Harvey added 10 for Esperanza.

El Dorado 73, Pacifica 64--Principal Tom Holler and Athletic Director Duffy Walker made their debut as co-coaches for the Mariners after Coach Brent Fair had resigned on Thursday morning.

Jim Sammon paced El Dorado with 24 points and teammates Dan Bailey (14 points), Rob Hanna (13), Herb Krapf (11) and Eric Glade (11) also scored in double figures. El Dorado (10-2) moved into sole possession of second place.

Cypress 86, Loara 63--The Centurions established a school record by making 40 of 56 field-goal attempts (71%) in the one-sided victory. Guard Mike Cote scored 19 points, and center Frantz Reyes added 16 points and 19 rebounds.