The old saying is if it isn’t broken don’t fix it.
That is what happened to the Burbank High boys’ basketball team Friday night when the Bulldogs faced rival Burroughs in a Pacific League contest.
Burbank came out in a zone defense that bothered the Indians in the Bulldogs’ 61-46 home win.
“We haven’t been running it a lot this year. It has been game by game,” Burbank coach Jamayne Potts said. “We kind of figured they probably thought we’d come out in man and throw a loop at them. We actually weren’t supposed to stay in it the entire game, but it was working.”
Burbank (13-7, 3-4 in the league) jumped out to an early lead and was never seriously threatened by Burroughs (11-8, 2-5).
The Bulldogs led 16-6 at the end of the first quarter and led 30-19 at halftime.
Things didn’t get any easier for Burroughs in the second half, as the Bulldogs went up 47-30 going into the final quarter.
“The zone bothered us a lot. We didn’t react well to it,” Burroughs coach Allan Ellis said. “We had some good looks, we just didn’t shoot the ball well. We’re a streaky team from the three-point line. As long as a team is not making shots, a team is going to stay in the zone. That was a smart thing for them to do.”
Burroughs played without star guard Stefon Foster, who has battled a number of leg and knee injuries.
“We’ve been sitting him out,” Ellis said. “Obviously he’s a big piece of the team and a leader. Hopefully, we can have him back for the second half of league.”
Burbank was led by Tyrese Willis, who had 15 points. Xavier Davis had 14 points. Chance Van Hook had 13 points and Erik Harutyunyan had nine. Jalen Clark and Justin DeSales each had four points and Sevak Mkrtchyan had two points.
Burroughs was led by Omar Searcy, who had 13 points. Carson Clarke had 11 points and Amir Montgomery had 10 points. Bryan Oasay had five points, Quinton Roberts had four and Zion Bazzell had three points.
