PHOTOS: Beckman fans pack the gym to support Sissy Oberlin and John Altobelli’s family

Beckman students cheer on the Patriots Friday night. (Photo Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

Beckman High basketball fans, some of them wearing Laker colors in honor of Kobe Bryant, packed the school’s gymnasium Friday night for a Pacific Coast League game against Woodbridge.

It came on the same night that Kobe and the other victims were honored at Staples Center.

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Admission was free as school officials encouraged fans to come to the game to support Sissy Oberlin, the school’s athletic secretary and sister of former OCC baseball coach John Altobelli, who died in Sunday’s helicopter crash along with eight others.

Fans were asked to donate money to the Orange Coast College foundation that is raising money for the victims of the crash. The fund-raiser was the idea of Beckman Athletic Director Steve Fischel.

There were lots of fans and they were vocal supporting the Patriots. Attendance was estimated at 1,700.

A good amount of money was raised, although the final totals weren’t known.

Beckman won the Pacific Coast League game 43-40 over Woodbridge to remain one game behind league-leading Portola.

“This was a great night, that’s got to be the biggest crowd we’ve ever had here,” said Beckman Coach John Goins. “They all came out to support the Altobelli family and Sissy Oberlin, who is Altobelli’s sister. It was great to have all of them all here.

“And it’s not like they just showed up and left. They came and they brought the energy. I’m glad that we were able to have the seniors experience this.”

Boxes were set up for fans to donate. Fans were still wanting to donate after the game, some even asked Oberlin, who was in attendance, how they could donate.

“She was in the stands, I saw her,” Goins said. “When she came to work on Wednesday, I gave her a hug.”

Beckman (14-12, 6-2) was led by Ethan Bozzo with nine points and 12 rebounds and Jake Morrison and Shervin Ghazimorad with eight points each.

Steven Mimpaya scored 17 points and Eli Hill had 11 points to lead Woodbridge (5-19, 3-5).

“We held them to 10 points in the first half,” Goins said. “And looks like they really focused in that second half in trying to get the ball into the high post, which was a struggle for us. They have a 6-5 guy at the high post and I have a 5-9 guy in the high post. And they got a couple transition baskets. It was always going to be a defensive game, they’re so strong defensively and we’re not the best offensively so it kind of turned into what I thought the game would be.

“We got some big buckets from Jake Morrison and Ethan Bozzo. It’s just could we get it to them consistently. We didn’t do a very good job of that the whole time. We probably turned the ball over 20 times again and that’s been consistent with us, we just struggle with that.”

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com