Jordan, Valencia Have Fun

Jerrohn Jordan didn’t start Tuesday night in Valencia’s wild 81-60 Foothill League victory over Burroughs in a boys’ basketball game at Burroughs High.

But once he got in the game, he didn’t stop.

Even when he became the target of malicious taunting from the Burroughs crowd.

Even when the game became physical, resulting in Burroughs forward Jeremy Cartee’s ejection for throwing a punch at Valencia’s Manuel White.

When four technical fouls were assesed in separate incidents and an official’s conference with both coaches was called, Jordan maintained his cool.

When a fan was ejected from the game for running onto the court to argue an official’s call, Jordan laughed.

When another fan came on to the court and challenged him to a fight during a postgame interview, Jordan just looked at the scoreboard.

“I’m just having fun with this because we won,” said Jordan, who finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds. “As long as the scoreboard says more points for Valencia, that’s all I’m concerned about.”

Jordan, Valencia’s leading scorer, overslept and missed a Saturday shoot-around and was benched to start Tuesday’s game between the Foothill League preseason favorites.

He entered the game with 5:27 remaining in the first quarter and Burroughs ahead, 3-2.

He had a steal and an assist on the first play after he entered and sparked a subsequent 25-2 Viking run that gave Valencia (14-4, 1-1 in league play) a 27-5 lead.

“We’re marked in every game,” Jordan said. “Especially me. I don’t know why. We knew [Burroughs] would play dirty because they’ve been doing it for the last two years. But it’s good to play in this type of atmosphere. We want to play in the playoffs, and in the playoffs nobody’s going to like you.”

Burroughs Coach Art Sullivan, who talked with his team behind closed doors for 30 minutes after the game, said it was a typical Foothill League game in the 1990s.

“It’s high school basketball today,” he said. “That’s the culture--talking [trash] to one another. If you run into a gentleman, you wonder what’s wrong.”

Sullivan’s main concern rested in the hole that Burroughs (11-7, 0-2) is in as far as the league race is concerned.

“We started out worrying about what our record would look like after 10 games,” he said. “But we have to start today worrying about what it’s going to look like today.”

Cartee, Burroughs’ leading scorer for the season, was ejected midway through the third quarter with just seven points. He must sit out Friday’s game against Hart.

Kevin Krose had 24 points to pace the Indians.