By Rick Assad
It was wild, woolly and it was exciting all rolled into one when the Burroughs High boys’ basketball team hosted Glendale on Tuesday.
Knotted after one frame, the Bears forged ahead by three points at the intermission, and by three points after three periods.
It was even at the end of regulation and an overtime frame was needed which saw the Bears outscore the Nitros 23-10 and claim a 105-92 triumph in a Pacific League encounter as the hosts made three of four from the field for 75 percent and 17 of 19 for 89.4 percent from the free-throw line.
“What I liked was our team’s defense in overtime,” said Scott Koulouvaris, one of four coaches that includes Malique Johnson, Eric Willis and Mikel Lat, who will lead the Bears this season. “The intensity the kids played with was great. Of course, Chase [Kardosh] taking over and refusing two lose. He really showed his leadership.”
Koulouvaris added: “Also, I thought we got some key plays by everybody that got in the game for us,” he said. “Just a great team effort.”
Johnson is the Burroughs junior varsity head coach and was impressed by what he saw.
“It was a tough game, but we pulled it out. Chase flipped the switch tonight and did phenomenal and our three juniors played very well. Jacob [Samontina], Jagger [Topp] and Landon [Everhart] did what they were supposed to do and more importantly we’re very proud of them,” he said. “Those four guys had 101 of our 105 points.”
The Nitros missed their first eight shots from the floor and connected on four of 13 for 30.7 percent and made one of two for 50 percent free the charity line.
In the extra four-minute period, senior small forward Kardosh accounted for 10 of his game-best and career-high 41 points and also added seven rebounds.
Junior power forward Everhart canned five free throws en route to 26 points with 14 caroms and two assists and junior guard Samontina, whose father Art Samontina is the Glendale hoops head coach, drilled four charity tosses and scored 17 points with two rebounds and two assists.
Junior point guard/shooting guard Topp also added four free throws and finished with 17 points, five boards and four assists for the Bears (7-2 and 1-0 in league).
Senior power forward/center Haig Jivalagian led the way for the Nitros (6-5 and 0-1 in league) with 23 points including eight points in both the third and fourth quarters.
Glendale junior power forward Joshua Ballard added 19 points, including a three-pointer that evened it late at 82-82, and senior point guard Mika Petrosian dropped 18 points.
The teams battled to a 23-23 stalemate after one period as Kardosh scored 10 points and Topp added five points.
Burroughs, which made 34 of 68 shots for 50 percent, outscored Glendale, which converted 34 of 81 for 41.9 percent, 17-14 in the second quarter and led 40-37 at the break as Kardosh and Everhart both scored five points while Topp added four points.
The Bears were ahead 62-56 after three periods as Kardosh delivered eight points and Samontina contributed six points and Everhart tossed in four points.
After 32 minutes, the contest was deadlocked at 82-82 as Everhart scored nine points and Kardosh added six points in the fourth quarter.
Burroughs hit 29 of 37 free throws for 78.3 percent and Glendale made 16 of 26 charity tosses for 61.5 percent.
The other points were scored by senior point guard Francesco Sabato, senior small forward Arthur Gabrielyan and junior point guard Elijah Orjuela for the Bears.
