BURBANK MAKES ELITE 8 OF SAN FERNANDO VALLEY INVITATIONAL
Burbank Opens Tournament with a double-OT victory, makes Elite-8 of Prestigious Tournament
Four sites, 32 teams and only one champion is all part of what makes the San Fernando Valley Invitational so special. Burbank High’s run in the tournament was made a little more special by its double-overtime victory over Knight High to open tournament play at Kennedy High School.
The Bulldogs followed that up by beating the region’s host, Kennedy, by 20 points the next day.
However, on December 19 the Bulldogs run for the champioship ended with a loss to Morningside, 58-45. Burbank will play two more games in the tournament before playing Mater Dei on December 27 to open the Maxpreps Holiday Classic.
Burbank is 4-2 on the young season.
TRIBE GETS BACK ON TRACK
Burroughs leads by 14 after first quarter and never looks back versus North Hollywood, Ending a Three-Game Skid
It seems head coach Adam Hochberg is breaking down the season into small parts. He was pleased when his Indians won three of four in the Poly Tournament to start the season, matching their win total of a season ago in just four games.
He was concerned when Burroughs dropped the first two games of the San Fernando Valley Invitational, including an ugly opening loss to Grant High in the Alemany Region of the 32-team tournament.
Hochberg feels a little better after the Indians got back on track on December 19 with a 73-53 win over the North Hollywood Huskies. His goal for the rest of the tournament is simple — try to finish the tournament with a winning record.
“We started with three wins, then we dropped three in a row, now we got a win and hope to finish with two more so that we can still take three out of five in the tournament,” he said. “Granted we aren’t seeing the same quality opponent in the back of the tournament that we saw in the beginning, but that is how it goes in a tournament when you get off to a slow start.”
Burroughs led 29-14 after the opening quarter and 53-25 at the half in the blowout. It was a far cry from their tournament opener in which Grant led by 17 points heading into the final quarter of play against Burroughs, thanks largely to second chance points. Grant had 29 offensive rebounds in the contest.
“Our rebounding is atrocious right now,” Hochberg said. “That is clearly something we have to get better at. That is part of these tournaments — finding out what you do well and what you need to do better.”
In its wins, Burroughs has been good at generating pressure on defense leading to easy baskets in transition. In its losses, Burroughs has struggled on the boards and with its shooting — the latter plagued the Indians the last two seasons.
Burroughs will play Knight on December 20 before closing out the tournament on December 21 with an opponent to be determined by the outcome of today’s games. The Indians will then travel to Santa Barbara for their annual trip for the Santa Barbara Holiday Classic.
“It will be more of the same, try to start the tournament with a win, go one game at a time and see how many wins and how much momentum we can gain heading into league to start the new year,” Hochberg said.
The Indians are still riddled with injuries, minus two starters, but the scoring continues to be spread around. Transfer Ty Bennett has been the most consistent scorer with a 16 point per game average through seven games.
-Tom Crowther, BNB Staff
