Los Alamitos Griffins race past Mid Pacific in opening round of Tustin Classic

Los Alamitos players head to the sidelines after warm-ups before Wednesday’s game. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Los Alamitos High School’s boys basketball team jumped out to an early 9-point lead and went on to defeat Mid Pacific from Hawaii 101-50 in the opening round of the 16-team Tustin Classic at Tustin High School.

Los Alamitos has won the Tustin Classic title the last two years and the Griffins could be the favorite again this year. The Griffins play Damonte Ranch of Nevada Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in the second round.

Twelve players scored for Los Alamitos, led by William Morales, who scored 19 points. Jordan Taylor had 15 points and Tyler Lopez 13 points.

Logan Mason scored 23 points to lead Mid Pacific (8-6).

Los Alamitos Coach Nate Berger liked the fast-paced tempo his team utilized from the start. His squad wanted to control the pace, and did just that for the whole game.

“Make it hard for people to adjust to us,” Berger said. “It’s hard to play at that pace and we do it for 28 games, it’s just another game for us under our belts playing at that style. It’s hard to mimic in our own practice because we only have 12 guys so we get tired 20 minutes in a practice.”

To see additional photos, click on the first picture:

Trent Minter of Los Alamitos is guarded by Darius Chizer of Mid Pacific.

Samori Guyness of Los Alamitos is guarded by Jacob Bow of Mid Pacific.

Los Al players get ready to shake hands with Mid Pacific players.

With a big lead early, Berger substituted freely. The Griffins led 56-16 at halftime and 86-32 going into the final quarter. A running clock was used in the fourth quarter.

“We have a lot of guys who can score who don’t play in our rotation too, that’s kind of who we are, we don’t have the size, we don’t have a 6-6, 220-pound guy inside to play in a half-court, so we might as well play a different way,” Berger said. “I think we have five guys averaging double figures, maybe six.”

Trent Minter, Samori Guyness, Wesley Trevino, Liam Gray and Isaiah Wempe have been averaging in double figures and Taylor is close to double figures in scoring average, Berger said.

Berger hopes his team’s solid play continues all week.

“There are some good teams here, so I think it’s trying to stick to us,” he said. “I think we’re the only team that plays this style, some other teams may have some size and strength. So, stick to who we are and hope that no one is ready for that style.”

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