The Burroughs High boys’ basketball has had its ups and downs this season.
The Indians played one of their finest first halves of the season against Burbank High Friday night.
It was so good that it was enough to help the Indians avoid a fourth-quarter meltdown in a 66-61 Pacific League victory.
“It was a tough fourth quarter but we had to keep our composure and that’s what I kept telling my teammates,” said Burroughs Emery Goulet, who had a game-high 32 points.
Burroughs (10-11 overall, 3-5 in the league) held a 55-38 lead going into the fourth quarter and appeared to be in command for a victory.
But Burbank (12-8, 4-4) began the fourth quarter on a 14-0 run and tied things with 2:43 left on a pair of free throws by Jared Pasion.
The Bulldogs would later take the lead on two occasions before Goulet put forth a final push that was enough to lift his team to victory.
“We were running too many plays that were complicated that they weren’t really used to running, so we simplified it and starting running spreads,” Burroughs coach Allan Ellis said of his offense.
Ellis said the change allowed his team to get more open looks at the basket. Burroughs hit 11 three-pointers as a team.
“The change in the offense was working for us. Hopefully, we can continue doing this for the rest of the year,” Ellis said. “This was a great win for our team.”
Ellis said he knew his team could not afford to get too comfortable, even with a double-digit lead.
“Burbank did a great job fighting back in the fourth quarter and I expected them to fight back at some point. We weren’t executing very well. Once we got back to our execution in the last minute or two minutes, we started to find our rhythm again,” Ellis said.
Burbank coach Ernest Baskerville was frustrated that his team didn’t come out on top.
“You’ve got to play a whole game,” he said. “You have to play every team that you play with respect. I told them (his team) all week, don’t think that they’re going to let you come out because they’re in the bottom half of the league (standings) and you’re in the top half.”
Burroughs, which led 15-12 at the end of the first quarter and 33-22 at halftime, got 13 points from Bryan Oasey.
Sammy Solis added eight points and Nick Garcia scored seven. Carson Cardenaz had four points. Tyler Cantrell had two points.
Burbank was led by Leo Tahmasian and Erik Harutyunyan, who each had 15 points and Miles D’Agostin, who had 11.
Pasion had seven points and Jalen Clark added five. Ben Burnham had four points and Isaac Anglade had two. Abiel Pearl and Guram Dumbadze each hit a free throw.
