By Rick Assad
It was going to be a real challenge for the Burroughs High boys’ basketball team when it faced visiting Crescenta Valley and the state’s top scorer in a Pacific League game on Tuesday night.
As promised, Vaughn Zargarian, the 6-foot-2 senior shooting guard, who after 17 games averaged 36.9 points per game, had another explosive outing as the sharpshooter dropped 35 points, including 22 in the opening half and helped carry the Falcons to a 61-44 victory.
The Bears (5-14 and 0-2 in league) fell behind 19-9 after the initial period and trailed 39-13 at the intermission after making 13 of 23 for 56.5 percent.
Still, this didn’t dampen Burroughs first-year coach Darryl Carter’s view of his club which is filled with 11 juniors, two sophomores and one freshman.
“We had a tough second quarter that decided the game,” he said of the frame in which the hosts scored four points and made two of 18 shots for 11 percent. “But my boys played hard and didn’t quit.”
Burroughs came out of the break and outscored Crescenta Valley by three points (16-13) in the third frame and six points (15-9) in the fourth quarter.
Junior Nico Meza and junior Elliot Lawrence each had a team-high nine points for the Bears.
Junior Ethan Cooper and junior Evan Lanier both contributed seven points and junior Evan Baker chimed in with six points.
Senior shooting guard Michael Sahagian added 11 points for the Falcons (13-7 and 3-0 in league) who made 20 of 48 for 41.6 percent overall.
Armen Bedrosian tallied six points for the Falcons in the opening half.
Zargarian, who is the son of longtime Crescenta Valley coach Shawn Zargarian, scored eight points in the first quarter including a hoop with 2:24 left that saw the Falcons fly ahead 15-4.
The second period was Zargarian’s best frame as he tallied 14 points and his bucket with 2:18 left made it 33-13 which caused Burroughs to call time out and if that wasn’t enough, Zargarian’s next hoop was a dunk.
Zargarian, who made 13 baskets, was somewhat quiet in the third quarter after scoring seven points as the Falcons marched in front 52-29.
Sahagian picked up the pace as he accounted for six points in the frame.
Zargarian, who nailed nine of 10 from the charity stripe, had another pedestrian quarter in the fourth after pouring in just six points.
Sophomore Daniel Beltran scored four points and sophomore Owen Everhart added two points for the Bears.
The Falcons converted 18 of 19 free throws for 94.7 percent while the Bears made five of 10 for 50 percent and were outrebounded 39-30.