Glendale boys’ basketball can’t sustain start

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — Before things came crashing down to earth, the Glendale High boys’ basketball team was flying pretty high there for a minute.

The Nitros scored the first eight points of their La Cañada Holiday Classic pool-play game against Bonita and looked ready to perhaps turn a corner from a slow start that had seen them lose four of their first five games.

Unfortunately for Glendale, it’s hot beginning was the beginning of the end, as the Wildcats regrouped out of a timeout to swing the game back in their favor and kept it there for a 55-41 win that eliminated the Nitros from any possibility of winning their pool.

“We got rocked after [going up, 8-0] and gave up a run right away,” Glendale Coach Steve Snodgress said. “We’re just flat out struggling. Offensively we’re just not getting production from any spot where we should, with the exception of Vahe [Aristakessian].”

Aristakessian led the way with 12 points for Glendale (1-5), which found itself down by double-digits by the end of the first period and trailed, 33-21, at halftime.

Glendale’s Sioun Elieh Janvisloo scored five quick points early in the third, but the Nitros just couldn’t get enough points or stops to make a dent. After Aristakessian scored on a drive to cut the lead to 41-28 with 2:30 left in the third, the Wildcats scored on back-to-back layups, the second coming off a Nitros turnover in the backcourt.

Six-foot-6 center Arthur Terzyan started to get going late in the game, scoring on a drop-step move at the end of the third before scoring twice more down low in the fourth to finish with eight points.

“We’re not shooting well inside the arc and we’re trying to get the ball down in the post,” Snodgress said. “I think we showed flashes of it where Arthur’s game got going toward the end and that’s how we have to play every night. We’re working on it and we’re getting there slowly, but bottom line is we’re just not getting any of the easy baskets that we’re giving up on the other end.”

To complicate matters further for the Nitros, starting guard Arada Zakarian hurt his shoulder in a pool-play loss to St. Francis on Tuesday, and saw a doctor on Wednesday for a prognosis, Snodgress said.

“We’re certain he’s out for the rest of the week,” Snodgress said. “We’re banged up, we’re not playing well and the word struggle is the only thing I can think of. It’s as bad a start as we’ve had.”