By Rick Assad
One poor quarter by the Burbank High boys’ basketball team almost spoiled Wednesday evening, but a closing fourth period sealed a 57-42 win over Burroughs in a Pacific League game.
The third frame saw the Bulldogs score six points and were outscored by six points as the Bears drew within 39-35, but the hosts took charge in the fourth quarter by an 11-point differential after making eight of 12 shots for 66.6 percent.
Burbank’s senior point guard Kevin Dehbashian played with poise, confidence and determination, scoring a game-high 24 points, sinking two three-pointers in the first half as his team led 33-23 after hitting 13 of 32 for 40.6 percent.
Dehbashian’s bucket with 3:22 remaining in the first period gave the Bulldogs an 8-5 lead.
Tighe Eshelman is one of several Burbank assistant coaches.
“That was big for our program. It’s hard to really put teams away in these rivalry games,” he said. “We had to weather the storm midway when we weren’t shooting well. Our guys really showed up defensively in the fourth. I’m proud of our lack of quit.”
Next in scoring for Burbank was junior point guard Jonathan Ong who added 10 points in the fourth quarter for the Bulldogs, who shot 40.3 percent overall on 23 of 57.
Ong’s three-pointer with 43.5 remaining made it 55-42 and with 6:05 on the clock, Ong’s three-pointer extended the advantage to 46-35.
When senior point guard Kamran Alborzian (nine points) contributed a basket and 3:07 left it became 50-42.
Senior center Arthur Ambaryan added four points and junior point guard Cris Ong also added four points for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs (20-7 and 3-4 in league for fifth place) led 19-10 after one frame as Dehbashian scored nine points.
Burbank junior small forward Anthony Jawiche added all of his six points in the first period.
The Bears (5-19 and 0-7 in league) had six players scoring in the opening half as junior point guard Teagan Bradford tallied six of his eight points after making two from three-point range and junior guard Evan Baker added five of his eight points that included a three-point shot.
Darryl Carter is in his first year as the Burroughs coach and paid his team a compliment.
“My boys played hard. The missed free throws and turnovers hurt us,” he said of his squad that hit five of 10 free throws for 50 percent while Burbank hammered six of seven for 85.7 percent.
The Bears outscored the Bulldogs 12-6 in the third period as junior forward Elliot Lawrence scored five of his 10 points and junior point guard Nico Meza contributed four points.
Burbank held Burroughs to seven points in the fourth period while tallying 18 points and also outrebounded the Bears 37-35.
Also scoring for Burroughs were junior Evan Lanier with five points, sophomore Daniel Beltran with three points, junior Ethan Cooper with two and sophomore Owen Everhart with two points.
