ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Empire League : Katella Beats Los Alamitos, 57-52, to Take Possession of First Place : Villanueva Gives Knights Balance With Outside Shooting

Katella High School guard Tom Villanueva provided the outside shooting that complemented the inside play of teammate Richard Lucas Wednesday night as the Knights rolled to a 57-52 win over Los Alamitos in front of a capacity crowd at Los Alamitos.

The victory gave the Knights sole possession of first place in the Empire League with a 7-0 record and snapped Los Alamitos’ 11-game winning streak. The Griffins are 6-1.

Villanueva made six consecutive shots after going scoreless in the first quarter and was just the spark the Knights needed against a Los Alamitos defense designed to contain Lucas.

The Griffins used a collapsing zone defense to limit Lucas to only one point in the second half. Lucas continually found two or three defenders surrounding him in the low post, which meant the rest of his teammates were often left unguarded.

Villanueva was the only player to hit the open shots, but Katella’s tight defense and ability to make key free throws in the last quarter proved to be the difference.

“This is a crazy group,” said Katella Coach Tom Danley, who has taken teams to the playoffs 20 consecutive years. “We look so sad on the court, but we win. There’s only one player (Lucas) on this team who will play basketball after high school for anybody, but they work their tails off to win.”

The Knights (16-2) opened a 17-8 lead in the first quarter, and Los Alamitos never recovered. Lucas’, a 6-foot 8-inch center who will attend the University of Oregon, made a follow shot at the buzzer but made only one more basket the remainder of the game.

“We felt our best defense was to contain Lucas inside and let the other guys beat us outside,” said Los Alamitos Coach Steve Brooks. “The plan basically worked. But we did a poor job offensively.

“We weren’t patient, and we did a poor job passing the ball in our running game. The bottom line was that we made only 11 of 26 free throws and we’re shooting 64% as a team.”

Los Alamitos (13-4) made its first run at the Knights and managed to tie the score, 33-33, with 4:31 remaining in the third quarter when Mark Parkinson scored on a baseline jump shot. But the Knights gained some breathing room when John Sunu made a three-point play for a 41-35 lead.

Los Alamitos made its second run with two minutes remaining, cutting the deficit to two points, 54-52, after Brett Pagett scored his only points.

But Katella answered with two free throws by Villanueva and another by Lucas in the final 34 seconds to earn its third straight victory over Los Alamitos in the past two seasons. Afterward, Danley stressed the importance of his team making its outside shots.

“We need the outside shot because we know everybody is going to double-team Lucas,” he said. “We’re looking for a 15-foot shot that an average sophomore in high school should be able to make.

“Why we have so much trouble making the shot, I’ll never know. We’re getting a little more consistency from Villanueva, but we’ve got to hit that shot if we want to win.”

Kennedy 80, Esperanza 74--Mike Keith scored 17 points to lead Kennedy (5-2) at Esperanza. The Aztecs (2-5) were led by Rich Gammalo and Rob Nay with 21 points each.

Cypress 61, Loara 40--Frantz Reyes, a senior forward, scored 18 points and Matt Civitelli scored 13 for Cypress (4-3) at Loara. Ted Buchanan led Loara (0-7) with 14 points.

El Dorado 73, Pacifica 64--Mike Renaud scored 17 points and Dave Pierce added 16 to lead the Golden Hawks (3-4, 7-8) at home. El Dorado guard Eric Glade had 14. Pacifica was led by Alan Bruce who scored 15 points. The Golden Hawks led 36-31 at halftime and put the game away by outscoring Pacifica 25-18 in the third quarter.