‘Dogs able to win rivalry
BURROUGHS HIGH — The first quarter certainly wasn’t a thing of beauty.
The second and third quarters were competitive.
The fourth quarter was dominant.
Friday night, the Burroughs High boys’ basketball team welcomed rival Burbank. Burbank took early control of the contest and never relinquished its lead, winning the Pacific League game, 74-46.
Adam Colman and Austin Pope each scored 15 points to lead the way for Burbank. Colman also had seven rebounds, three steals and an assist.
“Austin’s a great player,” Colman said. “He’s got more talent that I could ever dream of having. He’s the leader and I’m the senior. We just threw the first couple punches and fought back, wore them down and won the game.”
Both Burbank (13-7, 4-3 in league) and Burroughs (3-17, 1-6) got off to sluggish starts. In the first quarter, Burbank managed just eight points and Burroughs scored only two.
“I thought they out-played us, early on,” Burbank Coach Jose Hernandez said. “In the second half, once we settled down and just got the ball in the areas that we talked about, we were able to execute and get to the basket.”
Burbank led, 24-15, at halftime.
Midway through the third quarter, Colman grabbed an offensive rebound, put the ball up and in and was fouled. He connected on the free throw, putting Burbank up, 31-21.
Burroughs battled back, cutting the deficit to 31-27, but the Bulldogs ended the third quarter on an 11-2 run.
Burbank outscored Burroughs, 32-17, in the final quarter.
“They turned it to another level,” Burroughs Coach Adam Hochberg said. “We didn’t. We went away from the game plan and lost composure.”
Burbank guard Andre Spight scored back-to-back lay-ups, the latter of which he whirled the ball around his back and dropped it in, giving the Bulldogs all the momentum, and the Burbank fans reason to explode.
Owning a clear height advantage, Burbank outrebounded Burroughs, 27-17.
Chris White and Spight each scored 10 points for Burbank.
The Indians didn’t help their own cause, going 13 of 25 from the free-throw line.
Jorges Flores-Pere scored a team-high 12 points for the Indians.