It didn’t take long to realize that the Pacific League contest between Glendale and Burroughs Highs was going to come down to shooting and defense.
Both teams battled back and forth the entire game before the visiting Nitros prevailed in the end, winning 59-53.
“We haven’t played well at home. They were in a 2-3 zone. We struggled with our shooting and that was why we had this result,” Burroughs coach Allen Ellis said. “We have to find a way to be consistent with our shooting. We have to be consistent with our effort and it’s not happening on a game-to-game basis. So as a coach I’m going to try a couple of different things and push them and make them more consistent with their effort.”
Burroughs (13-11, 5-7 in league) hit five three-pointers in the first half, but had just two in the second half.
Glendale (11-14, 3-9) hit six three-pointers in the first half and finished with seven for the game, led by freshman David Shamirian, who hit four three-pointers and finished with 14 points.
The Nitros went up 21-14 on Burroughs early in the second quarter on one of Shamirian’s three pointers.
Burroughs rallied by going on a 15-2 run that included two three-pointers from Austin Marx and one from Ryan Del Castillo.
Just when it looked like the Indians were going to start pulling away, Glendale rallied and actually took a 31-30 lead going into the halftime break.
Burroughs star Tristen Hull, who finished with a team-high 17 points fought hard to bring his team back.
He completed a three-point play with 3:40 to play to tie the score at 48.
Trailing by six points, Burroughs appeared to get back within striking distance as Marx, who finished with 11 points, hit a three-pointer with 59 seconds left.
But the shot was waved off due to an offensive foul under the basket.
“They hit shots and we didn’t,” Ellis said. “We’re an up-and-down shooting team and they were able to knock those shots down and we didn’t hit the big shots.”
Hunter Cutone and Del Castillo each had eight points, Omar Searcy had four, Justin Henderson three and Stefon Foster had two points.
