garden grove thursday

SoCal High School & Prep Report

O.C. Report: Garden Grove League--
Bolsa Grande, Pacifica, & Rancho Al Win--(January 30, 1998)

There were three games played in the Garden Grove League in Orange County on Thursday. Here are the highlights and scores from each.

Bolsa Grande 66, Los Amigos 53

Bolsa Grande was led by senior guard Duc Nguyen who scored 31 points, including two threes as Bolsa Grande (16-5, 6-1) held off a late fourth quarter rally by Los Amigos. BG broke out to an early 10-10 first quarter lead, and then held on to the margin to lead at the half 27-18, in a second quarter which saw both teams only score 8 points each. In the third quarter, BG outscored the Los Amigos team, led by John Valenzuela (6'-5" Sr. C), who had 20 points, by a margin of 14-9. But then Los Amigo came storming back, outscoring BG 26-25 in the fourth, but not enough to close the 13 point gap which had developed in the first and third quarters. With the loss, Los Amigos drops to 8-14 overall and 5-3 in league play.

Others scoring for Bolsa Grande were K. Pham with 2 points, Llamar Holloway (6'-0" Sr. F) with 1, Doug Baughman (6'-2' Jr. C) with 2, Ly 5, James 11, Alonso Campos(5'-8" Sr. G) 4, and Ryan Pham (5'-11" Sr. G) with 10.

For Los Amigos, other than Valenzuela, only one other player reached double figures, Hurtado with 15. The other scorers were Carlos Sanchez (5'-11" Jr. G) with 4, Ngo with 2, Alvaro Arcos (5'-10" Jr. G) with 4, Hurtado 15, and Jesse Carrillo (6'-6" Jr. C) had 8 points.

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Rancho Alamitos 59, Santiago 44

Rancho Alamitos is a team which finished 1-24 overall and 1-11 in league last year. The team is coached by Dave Kirksey, who is in his first year, and there are no returning starters on this team. Three senior reserves from last year's team have figured prominently so far this year, including 6-2 forward Henry Huisan (6'-2" Sr. F), Thai Nguyen (5'-3" Sr. G) and Mike Reilley (6'-0" Sr. F). Others who have played well thus far are Hugo Soriano (6'-3" Jr. F/C) Brad Steen (6'-2" Jr. F) and Rod Victoria (5'-5" Sr. G).

Santiago was a team last year which also struggled to find an identity, finishing only 8-15 overall and 4-8 in league. The team is coached by Mike DaDeppo, who has one more year under his belt than Kirksey, and is in his second season. The team is still struggling, and this year has only two returning starters: Jose Lizarraras (6'-2" Sr. G/F) and Aris Lindo (5'-11" Sr. G). Lizarraras, an all-league selection, averaged 11 points and six rebounds. Lindo averaged 10 points and five rebounds. The team also features Jorge Brito (5'-11" Sr. G/F) Khemara Krouch (6'-0" Sr. F) and Ben Tran (6'-3' Sr. F/C).

On Thursday night, Rancho Alamitos proved that it was the least worst team among the two, as Mike Reilly scored 16 points and had 14 rebounds to spark the Vaqueros past the visiting Cavaliers. Victoria had 11 and Steen had 12 for Rancho Alamitos, which jumped out to a quick 17-6 first quarter lead, and then only gave back two points of the margin, to lead 23-14 at the half. For Santiago, as if the first and second quarters weren't bad enough, they only managed to score another 9 points in the third, but Rancho Alamitos was much better, scoring only 13, to lead 36-23 at the end of three. The fourth quarter was, for this game, unusually high scoring, and Rancho Alamitos scored as many points in the fourth as it had in the first half. Equally impressive was the performance of Santiago in the fourth as they rallied for 21 fourth quarter points.

Others scoring for Rancho Alamitos were Langarica with 8, Huisan with 6, Soriano with 4, and Row with 2.

For Santiago, Bedolla was the high scorer with 12 points. No other Santiago player even came close to double figures. Silva had 4, Tuvale, who fouled out, had 8, Cruz 2, Lizaarraras 7, Soriano 2, Brito 8, and Pilkington 1.

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Pacifica 77, La Quinta 40

Pacifica finished 16-12 overall last year and was 9-3 in league play in 1996-97. This season, they are now 17-4 overall, and lead the league at 7-0, undefeated. And Thursday night, they kept the streak alive. They are coached by Bob Becker, who is in his fifth year with Pacifica, with an 84-32 win-loss record. Despite having only Jeff Swan, a 5-9 senior guard, returning the Mariners continue to be the league favorite to win the title. Other players who are making contributions are Danny Dihn (5'-7" Jr. G), Jeff Davidson (5'-9" Sr. PG), Bryan Wislocki (6'-7" Sr. C), and Adam Rachlin (5'-10" Jr. F). Eight others, the tallest of whom is Patrick Douglass (6'-3" Jr. C), are on the team.

On Thursday, Pacifica proved why it is the best team in the league this year, and why La Quinta (10-12, 3-5) continues to struggle. Pacifica led by only 2 at the end of the first quarter 10-8, but then just exploded with a 34-16 run in the second quarter, and they led 44-24 at the half. Things only got worse for La Quinta as Pacifica continued to hammer them, outscoring LQ 20-8 in the third, and 13-8 in the fourth. Davidson had 10 points while Rachlin hit for 18, and Swan shot 15, including three three-pointers. Dinh had 10 and Simpson finished with 8. Others scoring for Pacifica were Wislocki with 5, Jirard with 6, and Douglass with 4. La Quinta scored 18 of its 40 points from three point range, hitting for 6 threes, but no player had more than 10 points.