BUENA PARK – An active, disruptive, defensive style took Buena Park to a 69-55 win over Los Alamitos in a nonleague boys basketball game Tuesday at Buena Park High.
Both teams were without key players. Los Alamitos forward Drew Platt was out with a foot injury. Buena Park forward Rocky Watkins did not play because he recently had not adhered to team standards for behavior, according to Coyotes coach Damian Farmer.
Los Alamitos regular starters Jacob Eyman and Joseph Riley did not enter the game until halfway through the first quarter, having sat for not meeting team standards for behavior, according to Griffins coach Eddie Courtemarche.
Elijah Jones Church and Cameron Dashiell supplied the offense for Buena Park. Church scored 29 points and Dashiell scored 22.
Buena Park, which last week lost for the first time this season, to Whittier Christian in the Leon Davis Classic championship game, is 14-1.
Farmer said Tuesday’s game was a typical one for the Coyotes.
“Grit, determination and aggressiveness,” Farmer said. “That’s how we’ve been playing. We haven’t done a whole lot of ‘pretty’ but we’re getting the job done.”
Spencer Frank led Los Alamitos with 13 points.
Los Alamitos (11-5), ranked No. 8 in the Orange County, committed 12 turnovers in the first quarter, helping Buena Park take a 17-9 lead into the second quarter. Church scored 10 points in the second quarter as the Coyotes carried a 36-23 lead into halftime.
The Griffins outscored the Coyotes, 12-9, in the third quarter to at one point slice their deficit to eight points. They got no closer than that.
In the fourth quarter, Dashiell was 10 for 10 at the free-throw line and Church scored 13 points.
Dashiell liked the Coyotes’ energy.
“We were able to run the floor,” he said. “We played like a team and we moved the ball around a lot on offense.”
Buena Park opens league play next week against perennial league power Sonora. Los Alamitos plays its Sunset League opener against visiting Huntington Beach on Friday night.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
