Burroughs basketball grabs sole possession of first by downing Arcadia

BURBANK — For the second straight season, Burroughs High and Arcadia look to be the top two teams battling for the Pacific League championship.

After sharing the league title last year, the Indians and Apaches are again at it this campaign. The two entered Friday’s league matchup deadlocked at the top of the standings, as the teams were also the only remaining undefeated league squads.

After enjoying a lead early on, Burroughs was able to endure several comeback attempts by Arcadia to eventually walk away with a 63-54 victory at home.

“We had momentum, I thought, the whole game,” said Burroughs Coach Vicky Oganyan, whose squad is ranked No. 7 in CIF Southern Section Division I-A. “So, I felt good about the momentum. …But we had a couple of defensive breakdowns late in the game and I think that kind of let them back in it a little.”

It has been a productive week for the Indians (13-6, 5-0), who pulled out a comeback league win Monday against Crescenta Valley and cruised to another league triumph Wednesday against Pasadena.

One of the keys to its success Friday against Arcadia (14-3, 4-1) was Burroughs’ ability to spread the ball around. Four Indians scored in double figures, with Brooke Radcliff, Davina Del Castillo and Paula Galicia all scoring 12 points each and Sidney Ortega chipping in 11. Del Castillo also had seven rebounds and six assists.

“Having a lot of different players score really helps us,” Radcliff said. “It’s hard when we have a lot of different players score because the other team can’t just look for one person.”

After leading from the opening tip-off, the Indians enjoyed a 12-point advantage, 26-14, when Sienna Brown scored a basket after a rebound with 5:09 remaining in the second quarter.

Although the Apaches whittled down the lead a bit, Burroughs still went into halftime with a nine-point cushion.

Arcadia continued to eat into the advantage and only trailed, 42-36, after three quarters.

Burroughs then endured a shaky stretch early in the fourth quarter. As a result, Arcadia was able to work the lead down to three, 44-41, following a steal and basket at the 7:11 mark.

Instead of wilting under the challenge, the Indians battled back.

“We made some big plays back at them when they came up with some big baskets,” Oganyan said. “When we can play a team and trap them and really play our style of basketball, that gives us a lot of confidence.”

After the Apaches drew to within four, the Indians went on a 13-5 run and upped the lead to 11, 57-47, with 2:17 remaining after a basket by Delaney Nicol.

The closest Arcadia could get thereafter was five points, 59-54, with 22.1 seconds left.