SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : DIVISION I-AA QUARTERFINALS : Los Alamitos Finds a Way to Beat Eisenhower, 72-68

Los Alamitos senior point guard Ali Ton just wouldn’t let it end this way. Not with four points to his name, and five big turnovers to his credit.

So Ton simply decided to do something about it. All he did was hit the key three-pointers, free throws, grab the key rebound and make the key steal to seal the Griffins’ 72-68 victory over Rialto Eisenhower in a Southern Section Division I-AA boys’ basketball quarterfinal in front of about 2,500 Friday night at Century High.

Los Alamitos will meet top-seeded Long Beach Poly in Tuesday’s semifinals.

“I knew I had to step up,” Ton said. “Coach told me to take the shots if I was open. I’m a senior and I wanted to play at least one more game.”

Another senior, Jeremy Vandervoet, allowed Los Alamitos (22-7) to live another day. Vandervoet dominated inside against a petite Eisenhower team that had only one starter taller than 6 feet 1--scoring 28 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

But it was a sophomore--Travis Strang--who changed the momentum and helped bring Los Alamitos back from a 13-point, third-quarter deficit. Strang hit his first of three three-pointers at the end of a 12-1 Los Alamitos run that finished the quarter. He hit two more early in the fourth, giving the Griffins a 58-56 lead.

“With the perimeter open, we needed another shooter out there, so I put Travis in and he came through,” Los Alamitos Coach Steve Brooks said.

Strang was one of many shooters on the court Friday night, and Eisenhower had most of them. Horacho Jimmerson, Jaron Roux and Erik Thomas combined for 55 points and nine three-pointers. For a while, it appeared Eisenhower’s shooters were going to be too much for Los Alamitos.

“They were shooting those NBA threes and we had the hardest time getting back in that game,” Vandervoet said.

Although Eisenhower (20-9) fell behind 11-0, it went on runs of 10-2 and 14-0 to take a 38-33 halftime lead.

“That wasn’t bad defense, it was just great offense,” Brooks said.

Jimmerson, Roux and Thomas rarely launched a shot from inside 22 feet and rarely took more than a second or two to think about it. When the shots weren’t falling, Eisenhower’s smaller, quicker players usually ran them down.

But Los Alamitos shut down Jimmerson and Thomas in the second half; they scored only five of their 36 points after intermission.

Eisenhower’s Redus Reed had shut down Ton, who made only two of his first nine shots. But with Los Alamitos trailing, 63-62, with 2 minutes 42 seconds left, Ton nailed a three-pointer. After Thomas hit a follow shot, Ton scored another three-pointer to put the Griffins up for good.

“Our whole game plan was to keep him from driving,” Eisenhower Coach Steve Johnson said. “But we gave up the open threes and he hit them.”