Empire League : Los Alamitos Gains Tie for Second Place, 71-59 : The Griffins Score Nine Points in a 21-Second Span as El Dorado Is Defeated

Los Alamitos High School, which plays a fast-break brand of basketball, is capable scoring a lot of points in a short time.

But the Griffins outdid themselves Friday night, scoring nine points in only 21 seconds of the fourth quarter to gain a 71-59 Empire League win over El Dorado at Los Alamitos.

Los Alamitos’ win moved the Griffins (11-3, 17-6) into a second-place tie with the Golden Hawks (11-3, 19-5). The teams have split games this season. But the Golden Hawks will enter the Southern Section’s 3-A playoffs as the league’s No. 2 team because they split with league champion Katella; the Griffins lost twice to the Knights.

Seven of the Griffins’ points during the 21-second span came on free throws.

J.T. Snow, who finished with 26 points, made one of two free-throw attempts with 1:04 left. The point gave the Griffins a 61-55 lead. El Dorado forward Jim Sammon then lost the ball on the dribble and Snow converted the turnover for a layup.

Los Alamitos got the ball back seconds later when Dan Bailey was called for an offensive foul with 43 seconds left. It was Bailey’s fifth foul.

When Terry Conley, El Dorado coach, stood to make a lineup change, he was told to sit down by the officials. Conley questioned the referees’ request, a little too strongly for the referees’ taste, and was hit with two technical fouls.

Snow made his two free throws, then Ryan Blossey stepped forward to make four consecutive free throws (a technical foul on a coach is a two-shot call.)

El Dorado trailed the Griffins, 47-42, after three quarters. It came as close as three points several times, and when Bailey made a layup with 5:12 remaining, the Hawks trailed by one point, 53-52.

Los Alamitos came back. Mark Schmitz made a 15-foot jump shot with 4:51 left. Ten seconds later, Blossey stole a ball and converted a layup. Center Moe Warner made another layup, off a nice pass from Blossey, to put the Griffins ahead, 59-52.

Sammon led all scorers with 31 points, 17 coming in the first half.

Though his team will still enter as the playoffs as the Empire’s No. 3 representative, Steve Brooks, Los Alamitos coach, couldn’t have more pleased.

“This was really big for us,” he said. “It’s big because we’ve beaten a ranked team, and that’s got to give us some prestige. It’s big because it gives us a lot of momentum going into the playoffs.”

Brooks said he wasn’t disappointed that Sammon had such a big game.

“You’re not going to stop him, “ said Brooks of El Dorado’s all-time leading scorer. “We wanted to shut down the other guys. Bailey has always given us problems by penetrating into the key area. (Eric) Glade is capable of scoring also. We wanted to stop players like Bailey and Glade. We figured if we could could do that we’d have a chance.”

Bailey and Glade each were held to two points.

Esperanza 87, Loara 61--Kirk Branstetter scored 24 points and had 11 rebounds and Ross Harvey added 21 points to lead Esperanza (4-10, 8-17). Gary Miller’s 19 points led Loara, which finished 0-14 in league play and 0-21 overall.

Katella 80, Cypress 55--Center Richard Lucas scored 25 points and had 17 rebounds to lead the Knights to the win at Katella. Forward Bob Erbst added 20 points and had 19 rebounds for the Knights.

Kennedy 79, Pacifica 52--Darrin Queen scored 18 points, had 15 rebounds and added 7 assists to lead the Irish to a win over the Mariners at Kennedy. Sophomore Michael Keith added 18 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists, Danny Curry had 16 points and Glenn Mares had 13 points for Kennedy.