Inspired Villa Park finds way past Los Alamitos

VILLA PARK - Villa Park wasn't playing a league game or a game that would in any way affect its road to the playoffs, yet the Spartans seemed to be playing for something significant on Saturday night.

"This game was more than a basketball game to us," Spartans coach Kevin Reynolds said. "Everybody knows somebody who's been affected by cancer. I've been affected, Isaiah (Bradford) has been affected, so we wanted to dedicate today's game to those who have been affected by cancer in one way or another."

Senior forward Isaiah Bradford scored a game-high 22 points and Luke Selway added 15 as the Spartans defeated Los Alamitos, 62-52, in the Coaches vs. Cancer Showcase at Villa Park High.

"We approached tonight like it was a league game," Reynolds said. "We'd already faced Los Al earlier this season and lost, so we thought of tonight as a second-time-around, can't-lose-to-the-same-team-twice kind of thing.

"It was an important learning point for our kids."

Bradford, a relatively undersized post player at 6-foot-4, dominated the paint all game, giving Villa Park plenty of second chance opportunities when he wasn't scoring in the key with seasoned precision.

"Isaiah's a three-year varsity guy and a two-year all-league guy who knows how to play under the basket," Reynolds said. "He's undersized in the post, but he has worked on his footwork a ton and has become very sound down there."

After falling behind early in the first quarter, Villa Park used a 9-5 run to take a one-point lead into the second quarter, an edge that extended to two by halftime.

Villa Park (11-8) never led by less than four the remainder of the game.

"We tried to take the competitive part out of it as much as we could," Reynolds said. "Like I said, everyone knows someone who's been affected by cancer and that was our main focus today, playing for them."

Los Alamitos (9-10) was led by Wes Mitter's team-high 19 points.