GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Rancho Alamitos Downs Garden Grove

At the start of the fourth quarter Friday, Rancho Alamitos High School was sitting on its biggest lead of the evening, 55-49 over host Garden Grove.

Suddenly, the lights flickered, then dimmed in the Argonauts’ gym and the referees stopped play.

The lights never did return to full strength, and neither did Garden Grove’s play, as the Vaqueros (11-3 overall, 5-0 in league) defeated the Argonauts, 79-69.

The score was tied, 15-15, after the first quarter, and Garden Grove (5-9, 3-2) was only down 22-21 at the half behind a smothering man-to-man defense and the shooting of Joe Aguirre, who scored 16 points in the first half before getting into foul trouble.

“Aguirre shot the lights out in the first half,” Rancho Alamitos Coach Eric Hamamoto said. “So we went right at him right away in the third quarter.” Aguirre, who finished with 18 points, fouled out with about three minutes left in the game.

Rancho Alamitos tightened its defense and speeded the offense in the third quarter, inching away to a four-point lead midway through the period.

The Vaqueros widened their lead to 12 in the fourth quarter, as Eric Moore yanked four of his five rebounds and David Green, who had three fouls in the first half, made seven of his 20 points, which included two dunks.

Tony Cortez added 21 points and Paul Pryce had 13 for Rancho Alamitos, while center Richard Pearce pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.

Kennedy 68, Los Amigos 46--Forward Jim Barker scored 22 points and center Jermaine Galloway had 10 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots for visiting Kennedy (7-6, 4-1). Los Amigos (0-16, 0-5) was led by center Andre Roberson, who had 14 points and 18 rebounds.

Pacifica 87, Bolsa Grande 48--Leading 15-13 at the end of the first quarter, Pacifica used two three-pointers early in the second quarter by center Kevin Gauhen, plus a full-court press, to outscore host Bolsa Grande, 31-8, in the second quarter. Senior forward Randy Schulze scored 16 points for Pacifica (7-6, 5-0). Guard Hinh Bui led Bolsa Grande (4-8, 2-3) with 17 points.