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Falcons basketball turn back Grizzlies

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BURBANK — Having played more than 20 games over the last four weeks, there’s been little time for the members of the Crescenta Valley High boys’ basketball team to practice.

During that stretch, Crescenta Valley Coach Shawn Zargarian estimated that the Falcons have practiced a couple of hours per week while traveling from the San Fernando Valley to San Diego to participate in games.

“I like where we are at right now, but we still need a lot of practice and instruction,” Zargarian said after Crescenta Valley rallied for a 61-56 victory against Golden Valley in a Burbank High Summer League contest Thursday afternoon. “In this game, Golden Valley zoned us quite a bit and we haven’t had time to work on something like that at practice.”

The Falcons, who advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division I-A semifinals and appeared in the state tournament last season, figured out how to adjust to Golden Valley’s zone defense shortly after the fourth quarter began. Crescenta Valley outscored Golden Valley, 26-20, in the final quarter.

The Falcons, who finished second in the Pacific League last season, saw guard Cole Currie register 14 of his game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter. Currie made four free throws in the game’s final 36.9 seconds to clinch the victory.

“We know going in what Cole gives us,” said Zargarian, who got four points in the fourth quarter from Eric Patten. “It’s great to see guys like Nick Springer and Kris Jabourian get in there and step up for us.”

Jabourian and Springer finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Springer had eight first-half points for the Falcons, who trailed, 25-22, at halftime. Jabourian contributed seven third-quarter points, including a layup that gave the Falcons their first lead at 32-30 with 2:50 remaining.

Jabourian said the Falcons made the proper adjustments against the Grizzlies in the fourth quarter, in which they had 12 fast-break points.

“We had a better defensive energy and we rebounded well,” Jabourian said. “That translated well for us to go to our transition offense and get some baskets.

{Golden Valley] didn’t know what to do with our pressure.”

After Currie made a three-pointer to give Crescenta Valley a 53-51 advantage with 1:30 left in the contest, Jabourian scored on an uncontested layup on the Falcons’ next possession 20 seconds later to make it 55-51.

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