EMPIRE LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Los Alamitos Comes Back to Win

Los Alamitos opened Empire League play against El Dorado with a virtuoso belly flop, trailing by 16 points at the end of the first quarter.

But 25 points and 16 rebounds from standout forward Jason Cunningham and 18 points from reserve guard Tim Lin helped Los Alamitos rally past El Dorado, 95-85.

Figure Cunningham is going to have nights like this one, but Tim Lin?

When point guard Ali Miller went to the bench with three fouls with 1 minute 39 seconds left in the first quarter and Los Alamitos in serious trouble, Griffin Coach Steve Brooks went to the bench.

On came Lin, a 5-foot-11 sophomore. Three bricks and a couple of turnovers later, Los Alamitos wasn’t much better off, trailing, 31-15, at the end of the quarter.

“They came to play,” Brooks said of El Dorado (10-4, 0-1 in league). “I don’t know what their shooting percentage was in the first quarter, but they were hitting everything. They were outhustling us. They were well-prepared and they shut us down.”

Los Alamitos began crawling back into the game in the second quarter, but the big push came after halftime.

Down, 53-48, Brooks put Cunningham on Brent D’Arc, El Dorado’s 6-6 center who had waltzed through a shoddy Griffin defense for 20 points in the first half.

But D’Arc couldn’t do a thing against the faster Cunningham. He couldn’t even get the ball.

“One of the key things was Jason shut D’Arc down in the second half,” Brooks said. “Jason did a great job.”

In addition to his smothering defense on D’Arc, Cunningham had six points, seven rebounds, a pair of blocked shots and a couple of steals, and Los Alamitos outscored El Dorado, 20-4, for a 68-57 lead at the end of the quarter.

In the second and third quarters, Los Alamitos outscored El Dorado, 53-26.

Still, it was close late.

If not for six consecutive free throws and a jumper by Lin in the fourth quarter, Los Alamitos’ lead might have slipped away. D’Arc managed to get loose for 11 points in the final quarter, but it wasn’t enough. He finished with a game-high 31 points.

Mike Johnson added 17 points for El Dorado.

Steve Carbone had 24 points, including six three-point baskets, and Dan Graham added 17 points for Los Alamitos (9-8, 1-0).

“I’m proud of the ballclub,” Brooks said. “A lot of teams would have folded down by 16 points in the first quarter.”

Cunningham and Lin wouldn’t let that happen Friday.

In other league games:

Esperanza 62, Katella 53--Mike Thimgan had 22 points for host Esperanza (8-9, 1-0). Benny Garcia had 18 points for Katella (5-8, 0-1).

Cypress 56, Loara 40--Vince Laguana scored 16 points and had eight steals for Cypress (8-7, 1-0). Teammate Lance Brook scored 12 points and had 10 assists. Ron Harris scored 11 points for Loara (0-1).