Burbank boys’ basketball gets best of Glendale this time around
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BURBANK — Glendale High and Burbank are two boys’ basketball teams trying to stay in contention for one of the top four places in the Pacific League, which hold automatic playoff berths.
When the teams met Friday evening, Burbank held down the fourth spot in league while the Nitros were fifth. Burbank had the added incentive of getting back at Glendale for a league loss earlier this season.
Burbank took control of the game in the second quarter and surged to a 56-46 victory against visiting Glendale.
It was the fourth straight league victory for Burbank (15-7, 5-4 in league), which fell to Glendale (15-7, 3-6), 65-57, on Jan. 5.
“We definitely talked about it and it’s important for us to win our fourth in a row,” Jamayne Potts. “We knew we had to win a few games in a row to get back into things. We know we are in that fourth spot and it’s important for us to get that spot to make the playoffs.
“The first time we played [Glendale], the young kids that we have really didn’t know what to expect from the league. But now they’ve played a few games and they are a lot more comfortable and we have also improved as a team.”
The Bulldogs were paced by Erik Harutunyan, who had 16 points to go along with eight rebounds and two steals. Xavier Davis added 15 points and Justin DeSales chipped in with 11.points and six rebounds.
Poor shooting from both sides led to a low-scoring first quarter, as the Nitros took an 11-8 lead. Eli Degrate (16 points) had eight of Glendale’s points while DeSales had six of Burbank’s eight, in the opening frame.
Burbank surged back in the second quarter, outscoring the Nitros, 17-6. A three-pointer by Harutunyan with 4:24 remaining gave the Bulldogs the lead for the first time, 15-14. Burbank outscored Glendale, 10-3, the rest of the way to go into halftime with an eight--point lead, 25-17.
The Nitros converted just two of 11 shots from the floor in the second quarter.
“Give credit to Burbank, they out-executed us today,” Glendale coach Eb Belou said. “We just weren’t moving the ball around and our offense was stagnant.
“Because of that Burbank’s played tough defense.”
The Bulldogs increased their advantage to 31-21 after Davis drained a three-pointer with 5:19 left. But the Nitros kept chipping away at the lead, scoring the final four points of the stanza to end the third down by five, 39-34.
Responding to the Glendale push, Burbank surged in the fourth quarter, upping its advantage to 49-36 with 4:47 remaining following a basket by DeSales. The Nitros got to within six of the lead, 52-46, on a basket by Johny Mansuryan (15 points, nine rebounds) with 55.2 seconds left. But that would be the closest Glendale would come.
“We did the math from the first time we played them and we gave up 20 points on free throws and and a lot of points off offensive rebounds,” Harutunyan said. “We just knew we needed to do the little things better to beat them this time. We knew if we cleaned up some things we would be fine.
“This one was also on our home court and we always play better on our home court.”
The game was played as part of a “Pink Night” fundraiser, where proceeds from the game and concession stand went to benefit the American Cancer Society.
Twitter: @jefftsports
