BOYS’ BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS : Tustin Beats Griffins With Defense

In a game that featured two of the county’s best point guards leading two of the county’s best teams, it was a man in the pivot that made the difference in Tustin’s 69-53 victory over Los Alamitos.

Sure Tustin’s highly touted point guard Doug Gottlieb, who has signed a letter of intent with Notre Dame, had a decent performance, scoring 19 points and adding 12 assists in the quarterfinal victory of the Tournament of Champions Thursday at Ocean View.

But the Tillers (8-0) needed to put the clamps on Los Alamitos center Jeremy Vandervoet before they could take control.

The Griffins (6-2) started strongly with point guard Ali Ton penetrating to help create easy baskets for Vandervoet, who scored 12 of his 23 points in the first quarter to help Los Alamitos take a 17-12 lead.

“(Vandervoet) was killing us,” Tustin Coach Andy Ground said. “We just needed to stop Ton’s penetration and bump (Vandervoet) inside.”

Although Los Alamitos dominated the first quarter, Tustin took control in the second.

Robert Griffin scored seven of his 15 points in the second quarter to help Tustin outscore Los Alamitos, 13-2, in the first 4 minutes 8 seconds of the period to give Tustin a 25-19 lead.

Vandervoet had only one field goal in the second half and the Tillers’ defense forced the Griffins to shoot 29% from the field after halftime.

Still, Los Alamitos made the score 56-51 with 1:39 remaining on a layup by Shaun Russ. But Tustin made 17 fourth-quarter free throws and 27 of 38 (71%) for the game to ice it as Los Alamitos missed its final five three-point attempts while trying to mount a rally.

Tustin advanced to tonight’s semifinals to play Playa del Rey Westchester, which was ranked second in the state preseason poll. Mater Dei plays Ocean View in the other semifinal.

“It will be a good test to see where we’re at right now,” Ground said. “It will take a great effort from us to get a ‘W’ out of that one.”

Ton, Los Alamitos’ point guard, tried to help the Griffins get the victory, finishing with 13 points and seven assists. But the 6-foot senior was frustrated in the second half and finished with eight turnovers and made only four of 14 shots.

The point guard duel never materialized as Gottlieb also struggled, making only four of 15 shots while playing the entire game.

Another key for the Tillers was a good defensive job on Cory Johnson, who scored 17 points in a 60-47 victory over Los Angeles Dorsey in the first round. Johnson had only two points Thursday and took only four shots before fouling out with four minutes remaining.

In a consolation game:

Servite 70, Los Angeles Dorsey 68--Mark Seaton had 21 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots and David Downs added 17 points and four assists to lead Servite, which shot 57% from the field.

The Friars (5-1) led 21-12 after one quarter but Dorsey (1-2) chipped away at the lead and pulled within one point midway through the fourth quarter. But consecutive three-pointers by Servite’s Andrew Higa and Downs made it 68-61 with 3:25 remaining.

Verdel Baskin scored 19 points for Dorsey, which was ranked in the state preseason top 20.