EMPIRE LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Poise in the Stretch Helps Los Alamitos Edge Past Esperanza

Los Alamitos, playing with the poise of a league champion, made the big plays down the stretch to hold off Esperanza, 64-63, Friday night in the Empire League boys’ basketball opener for both schools at Esperanza.

Guard Bryan Hakala made a three-point shot and two free throws in the last quarter for Los Alamitos (10-6, 1-0 in league) and finished with a game-high 22 points. Hakala’s bounce pass to teammate Keith Boldon for a layup gave Los Alamitos a 10-point lead at the end of the third quarter.

Esperanza (11-6, 0-1) managed to draw within one, 62-61, with 1 minute 49 seconds remaining when forward Matt Thigman made a three-point shot. But the Aztecs self-destructed in the final minute of an early showdown between the league co-favorites.

Esperanza point guard Brett Evans took a questionable three-point shot with 49 seconds remaining and his team trailing, 62-61, and later turned the ball over on a double dribble with 15 seconds left.

“I’m very disappointed with our performance,” said Mark Hill, Esperanza coach. “We had an open three-point shot, but Evans shot it off-balance. And then we had the big double dribble.”

Esperanza is attempting to win only its second basketball championship since the school opened in 1973. But the Aztecs played soft defense and rebounded poorly for three quarters, then panicked with the game on the line in the final two minutes.

Joe Foss, Esperanza’s top player, was hardly a factor after sitting out Wednesday night’s game against El Modena with a sprained ankle. Foss scored 12 points but took only 10 shots. Center Matt Kordik led Esperanza with 16 points and five rebounds.

Jason Cunningham, Los Alamitos’ leading scorer with a 16.4 average, was held to seven points and made only one shot in the final three quarters. But Hakala and reserve guard Steve Carbone more than made up the slack.

“I like to think that if Jason doesn’t score, the others can come through, and they did tonight,” Los Alamitos Coach Steve Brooks said. “Carbone has not played well lately, but he did a good job tonight.”

Los Alamitos has played one of the toughest nonleague schedules in the county, and Brooks thought the Griffins’ close games in December spelled the difference in the league opener.

“I don’t think we’ve won a game by double figures,” he said. “We’ve played a lot of close ballgames, and I like to think we know what to do in a tight game. Brian played a very smart ballgame. I wouldn’t trade him for any other guard in the league, including (Loara’s) Tes Whitlock.”