It’s not a boys basketball league where there are high-flying dunks or shots blocked near or above the rim.

Every season, though, high-speed and spirited games are common in the Garden Grove League.

“Our league is always very competitive, top to bottom,” said Ed Prange, a veteran coach at Loara, which is in its fifth season in the Garden Grove League. “And again, we have a similar situation this year.”

Going into this week La Quinta, Loara and Santiago are tied for first place with 3-1 league records. The league’s other three teams, Bolsa Grande, Los Amigos and Rancho Alamitos, are each 1-3.

“We beat Santiago, Santiago beat La Quinta and La Quinta beat us,” said Prange, in his 33rd season coaching Loara. “We barely beat Los Amigos in overtime (56-54) and they’re 1-3. That shows you that the games are usually very close and competitive.”

Games that will have much to say about which team wins the league championship include La Quinta at Santiago on Wednesday and La Quinta at Loara on Monday, Jan. 23.

Garden Grove League boys basketball games start at 4:30 p.m. to give the league’s girls basketball teams the prime-time slot this season.

Among the league’s top-scoring players are Santiago’s Jacob Bulboi, a junior guard, and his teammate senior guard Xavier Ojeda and Loara junior forward Markus Topscano.

Prange said the Garden Grove League is a league in which “you don’t see too many dunks.”

“But,” he said, “there is a lot of 3-point shooting, a lot of full-court pressure and lot of fast-paced basketball.”

Santa Margarita guard Cameron Mcnamee takes a jump shot against Mater Dei in a Trinity League basketball game in Rancho Santa Margarita on Friday, January 13, 2023. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

NOTES

Santa Margarita and St. John Bosco are tied for first place in the Trinity League standings with 4-0 league records. Santa Margarita plays at St. John Bosco on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. …

Foothill’s winning streak ended at 15 games Monday when the Knights lost to La Mirada 53-50 in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event at St. John Bosco. Foothill, No. 7 in the Orange County Top 25, plays at home against No. 9 Canyon on Jan. 27. …

Also at St. John Bosco on Monday, county No. 3 Pacifica Christian defeated Lynwood 96-88 as Tanner Deal scored 24 points and Salim Semaan scored 19. Also, No. 4 Orange Lutheran beat Oak Park 66-64, No. 13 Capistrano Valley lost to Dominguez 57-50 and St. Margaret’s beat Leuzinger 69-67. …

Also Wednesday: No. 6 JSerra (14-6 overall, 1-3 in league) at No. 4 Orange Lutheran (12-7, 2-2) in the Trinity League; No. 20 Fountain Valley (15-7, 1-1) at No. 11 Edison (14-7, 2-0) in the Surf League; and No. 15 Trabuco Hills (13-7, 1-0) at No. 14 Tesoro (18-4, 1-1) in the South Coast League. …

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Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight had 1,229 career wins going into this week. That ties him with former Oak Hill Academy (Va.)  coach Steve Smith for third most all-time nationally in high school boys basketball. Ahead of McKnight, who has been the Monarchs’ coach since the 1982-83 season, are the late Morgan Wootten, who won 1,274 games at DeMatha High in Maryland, and Robert Hughes, who won 1,333 games at Texas high schools I.M. Terrell and Dunbar. …

Former Foothill head coach Rusty Van Cleave is now an assistant coach at Villa Park. Van Cleave’s coaching experience includes assistant coaching stints at Estancia, Mater Dei and Santa Margarita and brief head coaching stops at Mission Viejo and Ocean View.