3-A BOYS

In another 3-A game:

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 76, Rancho Alamitos 71--Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High is going to the 3-A basketball semifinals for the first time.

“At this point in time, we didn’t think they were going to give up,” Coach Mick Cady said. “They had won 20 games . . . but we’re still not satisfied.”

Notre Dame (15-10) took a 27-17 first-quarter lead and was in control for much of the game. But with 2:32 left, Rancho Alamitos completed a 10-3 run and trimmed the Vaqueros’ lead to 63-59.

Rancho Alamitos forward Tony Cortez, the game’s leading scorer with 23 points, fouled out less than a minute later, and that ended the Rancho Alamitos threat.

“(Notre Dame was) a good team,” said Rancho Alamitos Coach Eric Hamamoto, whose team finished with a 21-4 record. “They’re taller, quicker and faster. But like I told my kids, I’d take our group over their group any time.

“These guys are winners--they’re champions,” he said. “We had kids that started the game on the bench out there (in the fourth quarter) and it was their guts. They never gave up.”