By Rick Assad
There’s never a good way to lose a game, but it’s even more difficult to take when it comes in the final few seconds.
That’s what happened to the Burbank High boys’ basketball team on Friday night in a Pacific League contest with visiting Arcadia.
With the score tied at 69-69, and mere seconds remaining on the clock, senior point Adrian Hernandez scored as the Apaches claimed a 71-69 victory.
A bucket from Burbank senior small forward Kelton Shea (10 points) knotted it at 67-67 with 45.9 seconds left.
Each team added two more points before the deciding basket fell through the hoop with three seconds remaining on the ticker.
Down by 15-14 heading into the second quarter, the Bulldogs (5-2 and 3-2 in league) outscored the Apaches 23-16 in the second frame and led 37-31.
In the frame, junior point guard Phoenix Mosley tallied 12 of his game-best 22 points.
Senior point guard Vartan Avetisyan collected 13 of his 21 points.
“The size and the offensive rebounding hurt us,” Burbank coach Sid Cooke said of Arcadia’s obvious strengths in the front court. “We had a chance to win, but just didn’t convert one or two layups, so we just learn from it and move on.”
The Apaches picked up 34 rebounds compared to 25 for the Bulldogs, but Burbank converted 14 of 16 (87.5 percent) from the charity line, while Arcadia drilled 15 of 21 (71.4 percent).
The Bulldogs drilled 57.6 percent of their shots (15 of 26) and six of six from the free-throw line in the first half.
The Apaches (6-5 and 4-1 in league) were also efficient from the field in the opening half as they made 14 of 27 (51.8 percent) and hit 13 of 18 (72.2 percent) from the charity stripe.
Burbank, which drilled 24 of 56 from the floor for 42.8 percent, struggled to find the hoop in the third quarter, scoring 11 points.
Arcadia tallied 19 points as junior point guard Shant Chenorhavorian scored eight of his team-best 18 points, while Hernandez chimed in with four of his 13 points in the frame.
Both teams scored 21 points in the fourth period as Mosley dropped nine points and Shea added six, while Avetisyan put in four points.
Five players scored five points for Arcadia in the final period and they included senior shooting guard Jacob Trobel (16 points), Hernandez and Chenorhavorian. Senior wing Colin O’Malley added four of his 12 points.
Chenorhavorian made four three-pointers including two in the third quarter.
Senior shooting guard Elmer Reyes tacked on 10 points for the Bulldogs, all in the second half.
Senior power forward Armen Nazaryan tossed in four points, as did sophomore wing Sattwik Banerjee.
Senior point guard Zachary Brown chipped in with two points that evened it at 59-59 with 4:05 left in the game.
