Empire League : Esperanza in Playoffs Despite Loss

Los Alamitos High School, led by seniors Dre Lamoureux and Brett Pagett, rolled over Esperanza, 83-58, Wednesday in an Empire League boys’ basketball game at Los Alamitos.

Los Alamitos, the sixth-ranked team in Southern Section 3-A, improved its record to 19-6, 9-0 in league play.

The loss drops the Aztecs to 12-9, 5-4.

Despite the loss, Esperanza clinched a playoff berth when Loara defeated El Dorado, 67-66. Los Alamitos clinched the league title last Friday.

“I’ve never seen a team unravel so quickly,” said Esperanza Coach Mike Moore. “This is the worst I’ve had a group play by far.”

Esperanza was in trouble from the start as Los Alamitos opened up it’s transition game with Pagett leading the break and Lamoureux finishing it with easy layups.

The Griffins led by nine at the end of the first quarter and increased the lead to 26 points (49-23) at the half.

Lamoureux had a game-high 30 points and added 12 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Pagett, who signed to attend UC Irvine in the fall, finished with 15 points, but more importantly a career-high 15 assists.

“Pagett was just fabulous tonight,” said Griffin Coach Steve Brooks. “I thought we played an excellent first half as our kids came out ready to play.”

Los Alamitos increased its lead to 34 (71-37) with less than a minute to play in the third quarter before giving way to the reserves. Doug Davidson added 11 points for Los Alamitos.

Loara 67, El Dorado 66--Freshman point guard Montess Whitlock hit a 30-foot three-point shot with 1 second to play to give host Loara (5-15, 1-8) its first league win. El Dorado’s Chris Facione, who led his team with 25 points, scored a layup with 6 seconds to play to give El Dorado (11-10, 4-5) a two-point lead.

Katella 65, Cypress 60--Though Katella’s leading scorer, Ian Donnelly, went down in the first quarter with a sprained ankle, the Knights, playing at home, won their third league game.