THREE RANCHO defenders confront Bolsa Grande’s Brighton Maae (24) in action Friday night in the Matador gym. Rancho won, 70-58 (Orange County Tribune photo by Jim Tortolano).

In a game that featured about as many floor burns as free throws, the Rancho Alamitos High boys’ basketball team defeated host Bolsa Grande 70-58 Friday night and squared its Garden Grove League record at 1-1. The Vaqueros are now 10-9 overall. The Matadors fell to 0-2 in GGL play and 5-13 overall.

The contest was physical and the visitors had only a 28-26 lead at halftime. But Rancho blew the game open in the third quarter as they outscored Bolsa 23-8 in that span. In the final period, the Vaqs built up a 19-point lead at one point – 62-43 – and withstood a late Bolsa charge to post the win.

Luis Rico of Rancho led all scorers with 28 points. JV Castaneto had 14 and Henry Phan 13. For Bolsa, Nathan Tran had 14 points, followed by Ethan Nguyen with 12 and Huy Tran with 11.

On Wednesday, Rancho will visit La Quinta and Bolsa will visit Los Amigos.

In other GGL action, Loara defeated Los Amigos 56-54 and Santiago (2-0) remained unbeaten in league with a 54-35 win over La Quinta.