GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Rancho Alamitos Presses the Issue Against Garden Grove

Rancho Alamitos High School applied its full-court press to perfection Friday night, reeling off 29 consecutive points in the second quarter, and went on to a 101-73 victory over visiting Garden Grove.

“That’s the way we practice it,” Rancho Alamitos Coach Eric Hamamoto said of the scoring streak, “but you never expect the press to create that kind of run.”

Although he didn’t score a point, Oscar Ramirez, a 5-foot-6 guard, keyed the scoring run with five steals.

“Defense is what I do best,” Ramirez said. “Lately, I’ve been sitting out a lot, but getting back in there tonight and helping the team felt good.”

Garden Grove kept the score close early, closing to 22-21 on Bob Ioja’s layup moments into the second quarter. Ioja finished with 24 points.

But the Vaqueros responded with their spree to take a 51-21 lead with 3:15 left in the half.

Rancho Alamitos (16-4 overall, 10-1 in league play) remained tied for first place in the Garden Grove League with Kennedy.

Garden Grove (9-11, 7-4) scored just seven points in the second quarter, making three of 18 shots from the field. Rancho Alamitos also forced 11 turnovers in the quarter.

Paul Pruess sank four of eight three-point shots and finished with 26 points for the Vaqueros. David Green added 21 points for Rancho Alamitos, and Mark Perry had 18 points for Garden Grove.

In other league games:

Santiago 59, La Quinta 56 (OT)--Van Trung banked in a 40-foot shot at the buzzer to give Santiago (7-12, 3-8) the victory at La Quinta. Paul Hastings hit a turnaround jump shot from five feet with 18 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime for La Quinta (0-19, 0-11).

Kennedy 72, Los Amigos 43--Jim Barker had 27 points and nine rebounds and Jermaine Galloway had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead host Kennedy (13-6, 10-1).

Bolsa Grande 60, Pacifica 54--Hinh Bui scored 21 points to lead visiting Bolsa Grande (7-11, 5-6).