As the crowd shouted M-V-P! M-V-P!, Eyassu Worku converted his final free throws of the night, sealing Los Al’s share of the Sunset League title.
The Griffins played outstanding from the get-go and never let their lead over Edison slip in the 82-72 victory over the Chargers on Feb. 12.
Three Los Al players went into double-digits Thursday night.
Jack Kaub had 25 points and Ryan Kusch had 22 points. But it was Worku who led the way, as he finished off the night with 28 points.
“I feel I did a pretty good job,” said Worku. “It feels good. I love this school very much and I’m very close to all these people, and I’m just thankful.”
Worku’s job in the match that decided whether Los Al would walk away from another Sunset league season with some silverware was made slightly easier by the impressive performance of the Griffins’ tall guys.
“We gave the ‘bigs’, Jack (Kaub), who did a very good job, and (Ryan) Kusch the ball, and we just started moving. We let the game come to us,” said Worku.
It was no easy task coming away with the win last week as Edison supporters filled a substantial part of the bleachers, but they couldn’t compete with sound levels of the sea of blue shirts that filled the gym.
What made the game even harder was the fact that the Griffins hadn’t beaten the Chargers yet this season, and that heartbreaking one-point loss in January was on everyone’s mind, especially Coach Eddie Courtemarche’s.
“Since the last time we played them we had our backs against the wall,” said Courtemarche. “We knew we had to beat them to get the league championship, and it’s an honor and a privilege to share it with that group of seniors.”
At the game, nine senior players were acknowledged and for some of those players this isn’t the first time they’ve won a league title.
“For some of us it’s our third [league championship] and for some of us it’s our first one,” said Kaub. “We were expecting to go very far in league and very far in CIF.”
Coming up for the Griffins is their first CIF game against Jordan High at 7 p.m. on Friday Feb. 20 at Los Al’s gym.
