Los Alamitos Edges Plucky Sonora

LOS ALAMITOS — It is obvious that Sonora belongs in the county top 10 in boys’ basketball. But so does Los Alamitos, which drove home that point Friday with a last second, 54-53, victory at Los Alamitos.

It was the first loss for the second-ranked Raiders (13-1), who thought they had won the game on two free throws by Jimmy Landry with six seconds to play. Landry led all scorers with 24 points.

But Griffin forward Kevin Staniec--who drove the length of the floor at the end of the first quarter to score with one second remaining--rebounded a missed shot and banked in the winning basket with one second left.

Los Alamitos improved to 12-2.

“I didn’t even see the rim. All I saw was the backboard,” said Staniec after removing himself from a pile of teammates. “But I shoot like that in practice so I did it again. But I didn’t breathe until it went in.”

Sonora, which didn’t get its first lead until a Landry dunk with less than a minute left in the game, would not have been blamed for losing big.

The Raiders were down to seven bodies, after four players were suspended one game for missing Monday’s Century tournament championship game. In addition both Landry and forward Josh Lien (six points) were still weakened by the flu; it was Lien’s first appearance after missing three games.

Los Alamitos did its best to break Sonora’s will early, getting off to a 24-14 first quarter lead by making 11 of their first 17 shots. The Griffins were doing their best to keep the game’s tempo accelerated, using full-court pressure and running at every opportunity.

But instead of wilting, the Raiders dug in and dug deep. Sonora cut the lead to 37-33 at the half, and 43-40 by the end the third quarter. The Raiders still trailed only 45-42despite making only one field goal over a 5:21 stretch during the third and fourth quarters.

Defense kept the game tight. The Raiders had eight steals, blocked five shots and forced 17 turnovers; the Griffins had four steals, four blocked shots and forced 10 turnovers.

“They are loaded over there,” Los Alamitos Coach Steve Brooks said of Sonora. “We thought an up-tempo game might wear them down, but defense slowed the game up. And we were a little careless with the ball.”

Although Murphy admitted he “never likes to lose,” there was little fault he could find with Sonora’s effort. “We knew we had to play our hearts out, because we knew this is a very good team we were playing,” Murphy said.

The rest of the county is catching on too.