By Rick Assad
With the clock winding down in the fourth quarter, Burbank High’s junior swingman Sattwik Banerjee’s 16-foot jumper missed the mark against visiting Pasadena and it forced the first of two overtimes.
Each team scored two points in the initial four-minute session, but Pasadena’s Fidel Cabrera’s bucket with 8.6 seconds left was the difference as the hosts fell 48-46 in a Pacific League boys’ basketball match on Monday night.
Cabrera scored five of his seven points in the first half, but saved his best for last.
Senior shooting guard Phoenix Mosley tallied 11 points for Burbank and his free throws in the first overtime were the only points Burbank (2-1 and 1-0 in league) scored.
“I think that last overtime really killed our legs. It’s a learning lesson. We’re a really young team,” Mosley said. “We have only two returners. Keep moving on. It’s our first game [in league]. We can still make a big impact in this league.”
Banarjee’s two free throws in the second four-minute session were Burbank’s only points.
Banerjee also had an opportunity to tie the game in the second overtime, but his off-balance 15-footer missed.
In the overtime sessions, Burbank failed on all nine of its shots, while Pasadena (1-0 and 1-0 in league) connected on three of eight that included a three-pointer from Jay Guyton, who nailed three treys overall and led Pasadena with 18 points.
Burbank didn’t shoot well, missing several point-blank attempts, which doomed its night.
“We missed five layups. A lot of this was due to inexperience,” Burbank coach Sid Cooke said. “Most of the guys haven’t played at the varsity level. That’s [Pasadena] a good team, but inexperience showed tonight. We’re going to get better.”
Cooke then added: “They showed a lot of heart. This is a work in progress, but we’ll move on from this,” he said.
Guyton’s trey with 1:50 remaining in the second overtime gave Pasadena a 46-44 edge.
Banerjee finished with a game-best 22 points including 12 points in the opening half.
Burbank made 15 of 55 shots (27.2 percent) from the field, but stayed in the game after drilling 12 of 14 (85.7 percent) from the free-throw line.
Pasadena nailed 17 of 53 (32 percent) from the floor and converted five of seven (71.4 percent) from the charity stripe.
Burbank forged ahead 15-11 after the first eight minutes, but Pasadena turned the tables in the second frame, outscoring the hosts 15-11.
In the third quarter, Burbank was successful on two of 10 shots from the floor. In that same time, Pasadena didn’t shoot that much better, four of 16, but still took command 36-32.
A hoop by Ryan Poole (four points) pushed Pasadena’s advantage to 31-26 with 4:05 left in the third frame.
When Ethan Patterson (nine points) connected on a three-point shot and 2:21 on the clock, saw Pasadena dart ahead 34-28.
Pasadena made nine three-point shots, including five in the first half, while Burbank converted four.
Burbank played better in the fourth period, outscoring Pasadena 9-5 as the game went to overtime.
Burbank couldn’t find the hoop across this four-minute overtime stretch and was unsuccessful on five shots in the second overtime.
Burbank missed all four shot attempts in the first overtime session.
In the first overtime, Pasadena converted one of four from the field and then drilled two of four from the floor in the second overtime period.
It was on the backboards that Pasadena dominated, grabbing 42 rebounds to 34 for Burbank.
Senior wing Alex Emami and senior point guard Nathan Contreras each scored five points for Burbank, while junior center Ben Forester added two points and senior small forward Arman Danielian tacked on one point.
