By Rick Assad
One key quarter proved critical for the Burroughs High boys’ basketball team and it set the tone for the rest of the evening in a game versus host Burbank.
The initial period was razor close, but the second wasn’t as the Bears outscored the Bulldogs by 16 points and this propelled the visitors to a 69-54 Pacific League win on Thursday evening before a full house.
Backed by the scoring of junior shooting guard/small forward Landon Everhart’s team-high 21 points and one-time Burbank player, senior shooting guard Omar Payind’s 18 points, the Bears were in good shape.
Those two accounted for a dozen points in the second period while the Bulldogs, who were led by junior power/small forward Odartey Blankson’s game-high 28 points, managed just eight points in the frame.
“It was a must win for the playoffs so I’m happy we pulled it out,” Burroughs coach Malique Johnson said. “Landon had a phenomenal game and I was very proud of him, and I was also very proud of the seniors, Chase [Kardosh], Omar, Francesco [Sabato] and Arthur [Gabrielyan], who played their hearts out. It was amazing to watch.”
Johnson especially liked what he saw in the first half.
“The first half was the best basketball we’ve played in a while,” he noted. “The ball movement was incredible. But I have to give a shout out to O.J. He played great as always.”
Burroughs shot 43.3 percent on 26 of 60 from the floor while Burbank canned 19 of 58 for 32.7 percent.
The Bears (15-13 and 6-8 for fourth place) led 16-15 heading to the second quarter as Payind poured in eight points and junior point/shooting guard Jagger Topp tallied five of his six points.
Blankson kept it close by dropping seven points.
Seven players scored for the Bears in the second period including eight points from Everhart and four each from Kardosh, who finished with 14 points and Payind as Burroughs led 40-23.
Once again, Blankson stood out with six points in the second period.
“Burroughs just shot the ball better than us overall. We just had a rough second period and ended up having to chase the game,” Burbank coach Steve Eshleman said. “We made some runs in the second half, but they always had an answer and kept us at arm’s length. Credit to them, but very proud of our guys.”
The Bulldogs (6-22 and 2-12 for eighth place) cut the lead to 55-42 after three quarters as Blankson added eight points and junior point guard Kevin Dehbashian tallied seven of his nine points.
Kardosh contributed eight points and Everhart scored seven points in the third period for the Bears.
Payind scored six points as did Everhart in the fourth frame while Blankson accounted for seven points with five of the points coming at the free-throw line.
Junior point guard Jacob Samontina scored five points, senior shooting guard Gabrielyan had three points and junior point guard Elijah Orjuela added two points for the Bears.
Junior point guard Kamran Alborzian tossed in 11 points, junior point guard Kevin Dehbashian added nine points and junior Arthur Ambaryan had six points for the Bulldogs.
Burroughs connected on six three-pointers including two from Kardosh and Burbank made two.
The Bears made 11 of 20 for 55 percent at the charity line and the Bulldogs were successful on 14 of 24 for 58.3 percent.
