LOS ALAMITOS – It’s not yet Christmas but Los Alamitos boys basketball coach Nathan Berger already is thinking past Valentines Day.

Berger has created a challenging schedule for the Griffins, including Friday’s home game against St. Pius X-St. Matthias that the visiting Warriors won 77-74.

The Warriors got more scoring punch off of their bench than the Griffins did, and had a mismatch advantage inside.

“That’s why we scheduled those guys,” Berger said after the game. “So that we’re not fazed by this and hopefully we’ll win in February from games like this.”

The CIF Southern Section playoffs begin Feb. 12 and continue through championship games Feb. 28-March 1.

The CalHiSports.com California rankings have St. Pius X-St. Matthias (7-2) at No. 20 and Los Alamitos (5-3) at No. 18.

Friday’s game was part of the two-day Los Alamitos Varsity Showcase that continues Saturday with six games.

Warriors senior Douglas Langford (6-7, 215) was the difference maker. He scored 21 points with 13 rebounds and blocked two shots. He was 10 of 18 from the field.

Langford selected Harvard from his list of college offers that included Cal State Northridge and Loyola Marymount.

“He’s a Division I player for a reason,” Berger said. “He’s got size and strength. We had a massive mismatch to our disadvantage and we still fought.”

The Griffins had a chance to tie the score in the final seconds. After Los Alamitos senior guard Wes Trevino made two free throws with 11 seconds left to cut the Griffins’ deficit to three points, St. Pius X-St. Matthias was called for a five-second violation while trying inbound the ball, giving possession back to the Griffins.

The Warriors defense did not give the Griffins an open shot, so Los Alamitos junior Tyler Lopez had to fire a long 3-point try to beat the clock, but his shot missed.

Trevino led Los Alamitos with 21 points. Los Alamitos senior guard Samori Guyness scored 19 points and senior 6-6 forward Trent Minter scored 14 with 10 rebounds.

St. Pius X-St. Matthias senior guard Jaden Erami, who was at Bosco Tech last season, scored 14 points. Senior guard Saul Anaya came off of the bench to score 14 points including four 3-pointers.

The Warriors bench outscored the Griffins bench 23-9.

Los Alamitos jumped to a 9-0 lead and had a 12-2 advantage. St. Pius X-St. Matthias made 10 turnovers in the first quarter, most of them in the first four minutes of the eight-minute quarter.

The Warriors settled down to trail the Griffins 23-19 at the end of the quarter.

It was 40-39 Warriors at halftime and 55-55 at the end of the third quarter.

The Los Alamitos Varsity Showcase’s Saturday schedule: ML King of Rivers vs. Beckman, 12:30 p.m.; Buena Park vs. Ocean View, 2 p.m.; Lakewood vs. Villa Park, 3:30 p.m.; Palm Springs vs. Trabuco Hills, 5 p.m.; Sage Hill vs. Edison, 6:30 p.m.; and Rolling Hills Prep vs. La Habra, 8 p.m.

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