Corona del Mar boys basketball finds a way past Los Alamitos

LOS ALAMITOS — The game-winning basket in the final seconds of the Sunset League basketball game between Corona del Mar and Los Alamitos on Monday at Los Alamitos High School didn’t unfold the way it was drawn up by Sea Kings coach Jason Simco.

But thanks to some split-second adjustments by Luke Mirhashemi, Maxwell Scott and his brother Nolan Scott, the Sea Kings got the result they wanted – a 78-77 victory over the Griffins.

The Sea Kings (17-1, 2-0), who are ranked No. 4 in Orange County, were trailing by a point with 11.1 seconds remaining.

On the play drawn up during a Sea Kings timeout, Maxwell Scott, who led all player with 35 points, was supposed to get the ball to Mirashemi, who would take the shot.

Instead, Maxwell Scott passed to Mirhashemi, set a screen and Mirhashemi made a pass from near the top of the key to a wide-open Nolan Scott, who was under the basket and hit the winning shot on an easy layup with 4.1 seconds left.

The Griffins then took a shot from half court that didn’t come close as time expired.

“I was setting screen for him (Mirhashemi), but then Nolan just found his way to the basket,” Maxwell Scott said.

Seconds earlier, the No. 5 Griffins (8-7, 0-1) put up a shot as the shot clock was about to expire. The shot didn’t fall and the officials called a shot-clock violation so the ball went to the Sea Kings.

“I think it hit the rim,” Los Alamitos coach Nate Berger said. “I think it’s a blown call. We were in a position to secure the rebound. We would have had the ball with no shot clock and they would have had to foul.”

The victory was Simco’s first against Los Alamitos in his five years as the Sea Kings’ coach.

“Nate and I are good buddies,” Simco said. “We got the job the same year. And there is a friendly rivalry there.

“And this was kind of the team that we’ve kind of built to beat them, because we have five guards who can all pass and share. And you’ve got to be able to break that zone with that.”

Simco had only positive comments about Los Alamitos sophomore Isaiah Williamson, who led the Griffins with 26 points.

The Griffins held the lead for much of the contest, but never by more than six points.

Three free throws from Oliver Nakra in the fourth quarter gave the Sea Kings their biggest lead at four points.

The Griffins took the lead back with a pair of 3-pointers from Riley Bowers.

Williamson scored eight points in the final quarter, including a pair of free throws that put the Griffins ahead by five points with three minutes remaining.

The Sea Kings held the Griffins to three points for the remainder of the game.

“We didn’t do a good enough job defensively to shut down their guys,” Berger said.