Falcons work overtime for victory
BURBANK — Though early in the summer season, Crescenta Valley High boys’ basketball Coach Shawn Zargarian hasn’t been particularly pleased with the performance of his team.
In short, Zargarian said the Falcons haven’t played with much energy throughout their first few contests.
Crescenta Valley appeared to be on the verge of following that pattern once again, but a late comeback propelled it to a 53-50 overtime victory against Grant on Tuesday night in the Burbank Summer League at Burbank High.
“We’ve come out flat and just had no energy [the first few games of the summer],” said Zargarian, who received a team-high 16 points from center Christian Misi. “We started off that way [Tuesday], but then our defensive energy picked up in the fourth quarter and picked up our whole team.”
Crescenta Valley overcame a 46-35 deficit with seven minutes left in regulation. The Falcons took their first lead of the game when Tade Keshishyan scored on a layup to give them a 47-46 lead with 1:18 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Crescenta Valley got a pair of free throws from Davis Dragovich to make it 49-46 with 32.3 seconds left before Grant’s Gurgen Harutyunyan made a three-point at the buzzer to send the game into a two-minute overtime session.
“[Harutyunyan] made a great shot, but we were now playing our brand of ball,” said Zargarian, whose team trailed, 43-35, at halftime. “We knew we have guys who can score.”
Dragovich converted on a three-point play on the first possession of overtime to give the Falcons a 52-49 lead. Misi, a reigning All-Area honoree, then made the first of two free throws to make it 53-50 lead with 33.5 seconds left before staving off a last-second three-pointer by the Lancers.
Crescenta Valley forward Rudy Avila said the Falcons, who qualified for the playoffs last season, regained their focus in the second half.
“It’s all about intensity, and we didn’t have that at the beginning of the game,” said Avila, who finished with nine points and five rebounds. “We got down and then we were able to start pressuring them.
“We had the momentum after the fourth quarter and in the overtime. We felt great going into overtime.”
Crescenta Valley pulled to within 32-26 on a layup by Avila with 6:59 remaining in the second quarter. Grant then used a 9-0 run to extend its advantage to 41-28 with 3:29 left in the opening half.
Dragovich finished with nine points for Crescenta Valley, which finished second in the Pacific League last season.
