Orange County Sports / Prep Basketball : 3-A PLAYOFFS : Los Alamitos Goes Inside to Lamoureux and Tops Fullerton

While his teammates and the opposition were slipping and sliding down the court, looping passes through each other’s hands and skidding out of bounds, Los Alamitos High School center Dre Lamoureux was usually right where he was supposed to be Friday night. Under the basket.

And when he got the ball, he usually did just what he was supposed to do. Score two points.

Lamoureux was a steadying and accurate influence in a game that got sloppy much of the time. He scored 23 points, shooting 67% (10 of 15 from the floor) to lead host Los Alamitos to a 64-53 victory over Fullerton in the first round of the Southern Section 3-A playoffs.

“Dre’s been there all year for us,” Los Alamitos Coach Steve Brooks said. “We need someone down there on the block we can go to.”

Brooks was bothered that five of his team’s first seven shots were three-point attempts, (only one, by point guard Brett Pagett, was successful) and his team struggled in the first quarter, which ended in an 11-11 tie.

But once Pagett and Brian Parkinson got the ball inside to Lamoureux, Los Alamitos began to break away. Lamoureux scored 12 points in the second quarter, including four straight baskets, and Los Alamitos had a 34-24 halftime lead.

At the end of the first half, Fullerton fans were angry with the referee, thinking that forward Pete Bach was fouled on his shot at the buzzer. But no foul was called on Los Alamitos.

But in the second half, fans couldn’t complain that the referees were changing the course of the game. Fullerton wasn’t called for a single foul until there was 2:38 to play in the game. In contrast, Los Alamitos fouls gave the Indians 10 free throws, of which they made just five.

“If we could have hit our free throws you could have seen a different game,” Fullerton Coach Randy Forgette said.

But free throw shooting wasn’t Fullerton’s only problem. The Indians hit just 9 of 32 shots (28%) from the field in the second half.

Guard Greg Wilber led Fullerton with 15 points and Bach added 14. Fullerton, which lost to Los Alamitos, 81-65, earlier in the season, finished the season with a 14-10 record.

In addition to being the top scorer, Lamoureux led Los Alamitos with 13 rebounds. Pagett added 16 points.

The win was the 11th straight for Los Alamitos (20-6). On Tuesday, the Griffins will face Schurr at a site to be determined. Last year, in the first round of the playoffs, Los Alamitos lost to Schurr in overtime.