If things would have continued like they did in the first quarter, the Burbank High boys’ basketball team might have caused coach Steve Eshleman to lose some sleep.
But eventually the Bulldogs got things together and turned in a solid performance the final three quarters in a 84-69 Pacific League victory over visiting Hoover Wednesday night.
“We couldn’t shoot at all in the first quarter,” Eshleman said. “We missed layups, we missed our threes. We’ve been shooting pretty well. Give them (Hoover) credit, they played pretty solid defense. We figured we were going to pick up the pace a little bit and press and open up the floor. I think that helped us. We got a lot of easy stuff that way.”
Burbank (11-4 overall, 2-2 in league) actually trailed 13-8 at the end of the first quarter. What was amazing was that the Tornadoes didn’t hit their first field goal until 1:19 was left in the quarter.
Hoover (5-10 overall, 1-3 in league) did not go away easily. The Tornadoes were actually outstanding at the free-throw line. Hoover made 20 of 25 shots from the foul line, including 13 of 16 in the first half.
A three-pointer by Avo Papikian tied things at 23. Blake Finniegan followed with a three pointer with 3:10 left in the first half to give Burbank its first lead since being up 8-6 in the first quarter.
The game began to open as time went along as both teams experimented with pressure that forced a number of turnovers that led to a number of easy baskets.
Both teams did warm up significantly in the second half, Burbank was good from three-point range on three second-half attempts. Hoover hit seven shots from long distance in the second half alone.
Burbank led 36-31 at halftime and saw the lead grow to 67-49 by the end of the third quarter.
Hoover made things interesting early in the fourth quarter when a three pointer by Mark Khatchoyan cut the lead to 69-60.
But Burbank responded with an 11-0 run and never looked back.
Chris Ong led Burbank with 22 points. Papikyan had 16 points and Finnegan had 13.. Nick Niazi had nine points for the Bulldogs. Kaleb Walker and Anthony Jawiche each had eight points. Jon Ong had six points and Alec Knight had two.
Hoover was by Mark Khatchoyan and Ilan Genachte le bail. They both had 16 points. Nick Khatchoyan had 14 points and Edward Gevorgyan had 13. Alex Patatanyan had four points. Harout Godzhoyan and Brady Bacardi each had two points.
“I feel like our defense wasn’t as good as it could have been, but we picked it up coming into the second half,” Chris Ong said.
