By Rick Assad
On the same floor that the United States 1984 Olympic men’s basketball team practiced, the Burbank High boys’ team used to hold off host Hoover.
That gold-medal winning squad was coached by Bob Knight and featured three would-be Hall of Famers – Michael Jordan, Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing, and the floor also witnessed the Bulldogs outlast the Tornadoes 63-53 in a Pacific League game on Tuesday evening.
With the victory, Burbank has claimed four straight and will host Crescenta Valley on Thursday and also visit Burroughs on February 3.
Paced by senior shooting guard/small forward Kaleb Walker’s game-high 22 points and senior forward Blake Finnigan’s 13 points, Burbank used a 22-point second quarter and led 37-28.
The Tornadoes, who converted 20 of 48 for 41.6 percent, drilled seven three-pointers in the opening half but drained one from three-point range in the second half.
Steve Eshleman is Burbank’s head coach and expected the game to be somewhat close.
“We always get a tough game from Hoover. Again, a victory by committee for us. Everybody chipped in,” he said.
The defense rose to the occasion for the Bulldogs (18-7 and 7-5 in league) as they played in-your-face and challenged Hoover on every possession.
“They made seven threes in the first half and only one in the second. Our defensive intensity really picked up in the second half and that ignited our break,” Eshleman pointed out. “Got out to a safe cushion in the fourth and brought it home. It was a great road win for our kids.”
Junior Alex Patatanyan tallied a team-best 19 points for Hoover with 10 points coming in the second hal.
Sophomore Ilan Genachte Le Bail added 11 points with nine scored in the opening half on three from three-point range for the Tornadoes.
Burbank junior point guard Avo Papikyan scored seven of his nine points in the initial frame and Walker tallied four points.
Patatanyan chimed in with seven points in the first period and also nailed his only three-pointer.
Burbank started motoring in the second quarter as it made eight of 16 field goals for 50 percent and senior guard Cris Ong tossed in all of his seven points that included a trey.
Finnigan dropped five points in the frame and included the first of his two three-pointers.
Finnigan’s hoop with 2:20 remaining in the frame increased Burbank’s lead to 33-26.
Senior shooting guard/small forward Anthony Jawiche accounted for four of his eight points.
The Bulldogs, who shot 48.9 percent on 24 of 49, limited the Tornadoes (8-17 and 1-10 in league) to 13 points in the third quarter while scoring 17 as Walker tallied nine points and Jawiche added four points.
Hoover outscored Burbank 12-9 in the fourth period and made a charge but ultimately came up short.
Jawiche’s basket with 5:08 left in the third period made it 44-30 and Walker’s field goal pushed Burbank ahead 52-37 with 1:13 on the clock.
In that quarter, Walker had seven points and 16 points in the second half.
Hoover drew within 56-47 and 6:19 left in the fourth quarter on Patatanyan’s basket.
Senior forward Giordan Lewis accounted for four points in the first half for the Bulldogs.
Burbank made 11 of 17 from the free-throw line for 64.7 percent while Hoover hit five of seven for 71.4 percent and also outrebounded the Tornadoes 31-25.
