It seems that so many times this season, the Burbank High boys’ basketball team was so tantalizingly close to wins, but instead somehow fell short.
Well it happened again on Monday at Hoover in a Pacific League contest as the Bulldogs were tripped up by the Tornadoes, 52-50.
In an earlier match on Jan. 11 between the these two teams, Burbank prevailed 66-52.
Burbank (15-9 and 5-5 in league) had to fight back seemingly at every turn in order to just pull close late in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs even had two chances to tie or win with mere seconds left.
“We were very flat,” Burbank coach Jamayne Potts said. “Holding Hoover to 21 points at the half was good, but we only scored 20 points.”
The Bulldogs (25.9 percent on 14 of 54 from the field) outscored the Tornadoes 21-15 in the fourth quarter.
Junior small forward Faraz Khandaker scored eight of his game-best 18 points, junior swingman Michael Woods tacked on eight of his 12 points and senior guard/forward Levon Galstyan added five of his eight points in the final period.
Galstyan’s two free throws with 37.3 seconds left cut Hoover’s advantage to 51-50, but Hoover senior shooting guard Alec Pirijanian’s free throw made it 52-50 with 16.8 seconds remaining.
“The way we played, we didn’t deserve to win the game,” Potts said. “We were a little inconsistent. But we’ve been that all year long. There was a lack of concentration and that’s a lack of maturity.”
The Tornadoes (6-16 and 3-7 in league) were resilient and led 11-7 after the first quarter, and were in front 21-20 at the intermission.
Pirijanian (seven rebounds) scored 11 of his team-best 16 points at the half, while senior point guard Rene Deravanesian tossed in five of his 15 points.
Pirijanian’s trey with 6:30 left on the clock in the second quarter pushed Hoover ahead 14-9.
“That’s a good team [Burbank] and they made a run late,” Hoover coach Jack Van Patten said. “We did a good job of controlling the tempo. They didn’t have any great runs and we didn’t turn the ball over. This was big for us. It’s great for the kids.”
Burbank stayed within striking distance by making eight of 12 from the free-throw line over the first half and made 19 of 25 overall.
Woods (11 rebounds) canned four free throws and Khandaker (11 rebounds and two blocks) added three charity tosses at the break.
Burbank was effective at the charity stripe in the second half, converting 11 of 13. Hoover made 14 of 23 from the free-throw line.
Woods and Galstyan both sank three from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and Khandaker added two.
Burbank missed eight of 11 shot attempts from the field in the opening quarter with junior guard/forward Ben Chavez (seven points) scoring five points.
Khandaker dumped in five points in the second quarter and Woods tacked on four points. Burbank connected on two of 11 from the field in the period.
Senior shooting guard Ellie Hanno (five points) contributed two points in the opening quarter and added a three-pointer in the second quarter.
Hoover (16 of 44 for 36.3 percent) missed 10 of 15 shots from the field in the first period as Deravanesian scored five points and Pirijanian added four points.
The second quarter saw the Tornadoes make four of nine from the floor as Pirijanian drilled a three-pointer and added two hoops.
Hoover outscored Burbank 16-9 in the third quarter and sprayed in three from three-point range as it led 37-29 heading into the fourth quarter.
Deravanesian accounted for eight points in the third quarter while hitting two three-pointers.
Junior guard/forward Monte Iskandaryan scored all of his five points in the third quarter and his trey gave the Tornadoes a 28-22 lead with 3:36 remaining as Burbank asked for a time out.
Khandaker scored five points in the third quarter, while Chavez added a bucket and Galstyan tossed in a pair of free throws.
Junior forward/center Simeon Hilby scored seven points for Hoover, with four coming in the first half.
Burbank will next host Glendale on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in a league game.
