The Burbank High boys’ basketball team returned to the suburbs following an excursion to downtown Los Angeles.
Looking to stay unbeaten in the early stages of Pacific League action, Burbank traveled to face Glendale on Friday.
Things didn’t go nearly as well as it did in Los Angeles for Burbank, which suffered a 72-53 league defeat.
Burbank, which posted a lopsided 74-30 intersectional victory against Maywood Academy of the L.A. City Section on Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena after beginning league play Tuesday with a 63-56 road win versus Muir, never led against Glendale.
“We’re playing our third game in four days and we haven’t had much time to practice,” Burbank first-year coach Steve Eshleman said. “We practiced Thursday and focused on trying to take away Glendale’s break. We couldn’t do that tonight and we couldn’t handle their physicality. They bumped us and we struggled.
“We have a young team and that’s just a reality. We were able to fight better in the second half. It was terrific to play at Crypto.com Arena and we’re just trying to build our program. Try to create some enthusiasm.”
Glendale (7-5, 1-1 in league) went on a 23-2 run that began in the first quarter and carried over to the second quarter to pull away from Burbank (4-7, 1-1).
A three-pointer by Glendale’s Harout Karapetyan gave the Nitros a 29-6 lead with 4:08 remaining in the second quarter to complete the explosive surge. A basket by Areg Aslanyan of Burbank on the ensuing possession made it 29-8.
“We just couldn’t get anything going and some of our shots didn’t go in,” Eshleman said. “We had some turnovers in that stretch, too.”
Glendale, which started league Tuesday with a 105-92 overtime road defeat to Burroughs, received 14 points and seven rebounds from Haig Jivalagian and 13 points and three steals from Joshua Ballard to turn back Burbank.
Burbank trailed, 36-15, at halftime before pulling to within 51-36 entering the fourth quarter.
Cristopher Ong had two three-pointers in the third quarter for the Bulldogs.
“We came into the fourth quarter feeling a little bit better, but we turned the ball over three straight times,” Eshleman said.
Burbank got a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds from Anthony Jawiche and 15 points from Ong. The Bulldogs also received 12 points from Kevin Dehbashian.
The Nitros and Bulldogs will meet again Jan. 16 at Burbank.
Burbank will remain on the road when it takes on Arcadia in a league showdown Tuesday before holding its league home opener versus Pasadena on Friday.
