Prep Basketball BOYS : Hart Nips Burbank by Playing to Own Drummers, 50-47

Just before the second quarter of Tuesday night’s Foothill League showdown at Hart High, Burbank Coach Russell Keith complained that the Hart band’s drums were too loud and distracting. After a short discussion and delay, however, the Indian band was allowed to beat its drums.

Then the Indian players beat Burbank, 50-47, ending the Bulldogs’ 12-game winning streak.

Burbank entered the game with an 8-0 record and needed to win only one of its two remaining games to clinch the Foothill championship. The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 8-1, however, just one game ahead of Hart, which improved to 7-2 and 16-6.

The band provided most of the excitement in the early going as both teams stumbled through an uneventful first quarter, which ended with the Indians leading, 8-4, and Keith protesting about the noise.

The band was asked to stop playing, which got Hart Coach Doug Michelson off the bench.

“Russ was complaining that the drums were a little disconcerting,” Michelson said. “I said, ‘That’s the home court advantage.’ It was noisy at the Doghouse (Burbank’s gym) when we played them there. But at that time we seemed to lose our momentum.”

The Bulldogs picked up the pace and went on to outscore the Indians by seven points in the second period and take a 21-18 halftime lead.

Burbank led, 41-40, with 4:21 left in the game, but Hart scored six straight points and took a 46-41 advantage with 2:17 remaining.

The Bulldogs were forced to foul, and although the Indians made only five of nine free throws in the closing minutes, Burbank could not close the gap to fewer than three points.

Dirk Hare led Hart with 14 points and 12 rebounds while teammates Kevin Honaker and Greg Spencer added 13 and 11 points, respectively. Center David Nielsen scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked four shots for Burbank, while teammate Gary Lotka shared game-high scoring honors with 16 points of his own.