Griffins close basketball season with a 71-60 victory

Coaches have been urging their players to keep fighting in close games since the dawn of time with mixed results.

Los Alamitos Coach Cary Kutzke did just that with his Griffins locked in a 50-all deadlock with Marina Thursday night.

His players responded in kind, getting a 13-0 run over a 2:30 span of the fourth to take control and wind up with a 71-60 victory to close out the regular season on Senior Night at Los Al. The Griffins, who won the Sunset League title outright, head into the postseason with a 21-6 overall record. Marina, which handed Los Alamitos its only league loss, is 16-9. Kutzke’s troops led 50-47 going into the fourth where he told his players not to change a thing.

Marina tied the game at 50 on J.J. James’ first of three threes in the final quarter. The Los Al seniors came right back and broke things open, starting with a three-pointer from Tim Chung. Jack Haley followed with a thunderous dunk, which ignited a capacity crowd.

Aaron Jenkins and Chung sandwiched threes around a Camryn Crocker bucket as the lead ballooned to 63-50 with just over five minutes left.

As they did all night, the Vikings came storming back, using the backcourt duo of James and Brendan Holmes to get within 63-57 with 2:23 left.

Marina had itself in foul trouble all evening long, sending Los Al to the free throw line 22 times compared to just nine for the Vikings.