The Los Alamitos High boys basketball team held off an Edison team that kept pace with the Griffins for 3 ½ quarters. But the Griffins secured a 71-63 Sunset League victory down the stretch, to improve to 5-1 and move a game ahead of the Chargers, who sit at 4-2.
Corona del Mar sits atop the standings at 6-0, after pulling out a last second 78-77 win over the Griffins on Jan. 5. The Griffins will try to even the score with a game at Corona del Mar on Wednesday.
Los Alamitos took a 49-38 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Chargers refused to give in and made a couple of runs to close the gap. After the Chargers cut the lead to 53-49 with 5:13 left in the game, the Griffins responded with two free throws by Tyler Lopez and then a baseline three-pointer by Joseph Ojeda that pushed the lead back to 58-49.
Edison kept pushing back, getting to within 62-58, after a driving layup by Teddy Goslow and two free throws by Devyn Blake. But the Griffins would pull away from there. Edison seemed to run out of steam trying to keep pace with the Griffins up tempo game. The Chargers missed several late game free throws to keep the score close.
Senior Tyler Lopez led the Griffins with 26 points and Isaiah Williamson followed with 14 points. Ojeda had 10 points and sophomore Riley Bowers chipped in nine. Edison senior guard Derick Johnson had a game-high 31 points and junior Jackson Oei had 15. Goslow added 12 points.
The Griffins played at Corona del Mar on Wednesday (past Sun press time). Los Al will host Huntington Beach on Friday at 7 p.m. and will host a non-league game against Servite on Saturday at 3 p.m.
