DIVISION I-AA : Long Beach Wilson Gets the Jump on Los Alamitos

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  The game’s most telling statistic jumped out at Los Alamitos Coach Steve Brooks, much like Long Beach Wilson’s players had jumped over his team all night: 18 offensive rebounds for Wilson, five for Los Alamitos.

“We gave them way too many second and third opportunities,” Brooks said. “When you let them get that far into your defense, you’re going to have problems.”

Los Alamitos’ rebounding problems led to a 65-58 Wilson victory in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division I-AA boys’ basketball playoffs at Huntington Beach High. The Bruins’ victory sets up a semifinal with cross-town rival Long Beach Poly.

Los Alamitos (22-5), seeded second in the division, led throughout the fourth quarter, but Wilson forward Michael Batiste’s three-pointer from the baseline with 1 minute 40 seconds left gave the Bruins a 58-56 lead.

Los Alamitos center Brady Doyle (18 points, nine rebounds) made a layup to tie it, but they were the Griffins’ last points of the night. Ali Ton could have given Los Alamitos the lead, but he missed the front end of a one and one with 1:09 left.

Batiste (30 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks) took over from there, scoring five of the game’s last seven points and making a block on Doyle as he appeared to have an easy score-tying layup with a minute left.

The Griffins’ Tim Lin had a chance to tie it at 61 with 20 seconds left, but his hurried three-point attempt wasn’t close.

Los Alamitos made eight of 13 free throws, but missed its last two.

“We’re usually people that don’t normally miss free throws,” Brooks said. “As a team, we shoot over 70%.”

The Griffins normally rebound better too, but they weren’t prepared for Wilson’s athleticism and were beaten 33-24 on the boards. Even when it appeared Los Alamitos had everyone blocked out, a body would come flying in to tip or dunk the ball in.

“We have played teams as athletic as these guys, but they were coming from the top and sometimes, they came out of nowhere,” said Brooks, whose team also had eight shots blocked. “Our perimeter guys just didn’t do a good job of blocking them out.”

Lin finished with 16 points on four three-pointers, but he missed his last three attempts and never had much room to operate.