Crescenta Valley High boys’ basketball handles La Cañada

GLENDALE — Throughout the last decade, the Crescenta Valley High and La Cañada boys’ basketball teams have been two of the marquee programs in the area.

With multiple all-league and All-CIF selections from each team, the Falcons and Spartans have enjoyed their share of deep postseason runs. Crescenta Valley and La Cañada will occasionally meet during the summer while looking to fortify their respective squads in terms of finding lineup new combinations and depth that might play a role leading into the regular season.

Crescenta Valley and La Cañada met Tuesday in a Burbank Summer League contest and Kyle Currie finished with 13 points to help propel Crescenta Valley to a 48-41 victory at Glendale High.

The Falcons, who split the Pacific League championship last season with Pasadena, led throughout most of the game. Currie scored five points in the final three minutes to help the Falcons fend off the Spartans, who captured the Rio Hondo League championship and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division III-A semifinals last season.

“We’ve played 17 games and it’s been an interesting summer,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Shawn Zargarian, a former All-Area Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year. “We’ve had some injuries along the way, so we’ve been working on different rotations and looks.

“We got a good effort from Kyle. You expect him to make the big plays and he did that again.”

Currie converted on a three-point play to give Crescenta Valley a 44-35 lead with 46 seconds remaining.

Currie, who earned all-league second-team honors after averaging 7.6 points per game last season, said the Falcons remain a work in progress.

“We’ve still got a lot to work on, but things will come along,” Currie said. “It comes down to effort and we are getting that.”

Crescenta Valley received 10 points from Chris Reik and nine from Thulani Kachingue. La Cañada, which competed without reigning All-CIF honorees Grant Arthur and Koko Kurdoghlian, got 10 points from Joey Robinson and eight from Evan Ohanessian.

Crescenta Valley held a 19-17 halftime advantage.

The game featured an unfortunate incident in the second half when Crescenta Valley’s Jimmy Smiley and La Cañada’s Tyler Rubendall got into an altercation.

About a minute into the second half, Smiley and Rubendall were battling for position near the Crescenta Valley basket. Smiley fell to the floor after jostling with Rubendall. Smiley then got up and threw a pair of punches at Rubendall. Zargarian called timeout immediately and removed Smiley from the game before instructing Smiley to leave the facility.

“I stopped the game because I felt like [the incident] would escalate,” said Zargarian, who apologized to Spartans Coach Tom Hofman shortly after the event unfolded. “It’s a physical game, but it’s still no excuse for what happened.

“He’s been suspended from the team indefinitely.”

Hofman, a former All-Area Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year who has guided the Spartans to two CIF Southern Section championships, said Zargarian handled the incident properly.

“Tempers are going to flare, but I don’t know what transpired leading up to what happened,” Hofman said. “Both teams are out there and playing hard.

“I thought Shawn and the referee did a good job handling it.”

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Follow Charles Rich on Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich .