WILMINGTON — It will go down as an epic final 8.2 seconds for the Los Alamitos basketball team.

From strategic intentional fouls to a mad scramble that sent coach Nate Berger sprawling to the floor, Los Alamitos survived the frantic final stretch to advance to its first CIF Southern Section semifinal since 2015.

Los Alamitos emerged with an enthralling 56-54 victory over Rolling Hills Prep in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals Tuesday in a raucous atmosphere at Los Angeles Harbor College and will host Crean Lutheran in Friday’s semifinals.

“I took my eye off the play for a second and got decked,” Berger said, laughing. “I’ll probably be sore tomorrow, but it will be worth it.”

Nursing a three-point lead with 8.2 seconds left, Los Alamitos (23-8) chose to intentionally foul Mateo Trujillo on three consecutive plays to prevent Rolling Hills Prep from attempting a tying 3-pointer.

“We would have done the same thing – it was a smart play,” Rolling Hills Prep coach Harvey Kitani said.

On the third foul, Trujillo went to the free-throw line with 4.2 seconds left. He sank the first free throw, but his intentional miss on the second attempt did not hit the rim, giving Los Alamitos the opportunity to run out the clock.

“What’s funny is that we really struggled with that scenario all year,” Berger said. “We did it well one time – at home against Centennial.

“It was good to see this team – after so many tight games – shine and execute at a high level down the stretch.”

Liam Gray scored nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter for Los Alamitos. Gray delivered a pivotal steal and tiebreaking, breakaway layup with 2:35 left for a 52-50 lead that seemed to inspire Los Alamitos after it held just two leads – 9-7 and 35-34 – in the first 3-1/2 quarters.

“I saw his eyes the whole time,” Gray said. “I knew I had to get the steak and the basket there.

“We couldn’t hear a thing in here because it was so loud, but it was like that in our last game against (Long Beach) Poly too. We stayed composed.”

Trent Minter also came up with some pivotal fourth-quarter baskets and finished with 11 points for Los Alamitos. Jordan Taylor added 10 points.

“We knew if they go on runs, we needed to go on runs,” Minter said. “I think this says a lot about how we play and about what Coach Berger has done in the last four years.”

Small-school power Rolling Hills Prep – an 8-time CIF champion – felt it stood tall against elite competition throughout the year during its 22-7 campaign.

Under the venerable Kitani, Rolling Hills Prep captured titles in 2017 (Division 5AA), 2018 (4AA), 2019 (3AA) and 2021 (2AA) as it continued to progress upward in competition.

To think it was mere seconds from making the Division 1 semifinal.

“This was a great team. We had a lot of team work. And in my opinion, this is the best RHP team to date,” Trujillo said.

“It’s disappointing, but we got some young players some good time against good competition. I can’t wait to see where they go next.”

Mylo Murphy led Rolling Hills Prep with 20 points, including a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter that gave Rolling Hills Prep a 50-48 lead with 3:10 left.

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“Man, I was telling the team to take it slow, protect the ball and continue to protect the lead,” Murphy said. “We fell short, but I am proud of everybody and how we played.”

Kawika Suter and Nick Welch Jr. each scored 10 points for Rolling Hills Prep. Trujillo finished with eight points for Rolling Hills Prep, which received a nice ovation from its fans after a lengthy 35-minute locker room talk.

“They made the whole school community proud,” Kitani said. “Give credit to (Los Alamitos). They went far last year and brought back a lot of players and really grinded it out against us.

“We played well, but not well enough to win. We needed to be a little more perfect tonight.”