Knowing what awaited on Thursday night, the Burroughs High boys’ basketball team may have been looking ahead.
But what the Indians faced on Tuesday afternoon was a stubborn and feisty host Glendale team that gave the Indians everything in its arsenal and then some.
When Glendale sophomore shooting guard Eli Degarte scored and added a free throw with 3:40 left in the third quarter, the Nitros came within 42-41.
In the end, though, Burroughs was too deep and too talented and after a scare, pulled away for a 71-56 win in a Pacific League game.
The Indians were terrific in the first and fourth quarters, and not so good in the second and third quarters.
Burroughs, which will host city rival Burbank on Thursday with a 7 p.m. start, shot 50 percent (16 of 32) from the field in the opening half and led 37-28.
“That whole second group was really effective,” Burroughs coach Adam Hochberg said of his reserves. “That second group pushed it [the lead] back up to 14 points. I have full confidence in them.”
They partially included senior point guard Eric Allen (six points), senior wing Elijah Cain (four points), senior wing Nick Howard (two points) and senior center Garrit Green (two points).
In the second half, the Indians connected on 12 of 29 for 41.3 percent, and held the Nitros (9-17 and 2-11 in league) to a three of 15 from the field in the fourth quarter.
Burroughs (19-6 and 9-4 in league) outscored Glendale 21-10 in the fourth period while making seven of 16 from the floor and six of seven from the free-throw line. Overall the Indians converted nine of 14 from the charity stripe.
“We know for us it’s how we approach the game mentally,” Hochberg said. “We weren’t in to it mentally for 32 minutes.”
Junior wing Justin Henderson accounted for nine of his 16 points in the final period, junior power forward Tristen Hull tallied five of his game-best 18 points and senior small forward Angelo Solis had five of his nine points.
Henderson’s hoop with 2:16 remaining in the fourth quarter made it 66-51 and forced the Nitros to ask for a time out.
A 24-point first-quarter explosion by Burroughs (28 of 61 for 45.9 percent) pushed the visitors to an 11-point lead with Hull scoring eight points and reserve senior point guard Jordan Bridges hitting a pair of three-pointers for his night’s scoring.
Senior shooting guard Steven Hubbell tacked on the first of his two treys in the opening quarter and had five of his eight points as the Indians converted 10 of 15 from the field.
The Nitros (21 of 47 for 44.6 percent) outscored the Indians 15-13 in the second quarter behind senior forward Daniel Gonzalez (nine points) and junior guard Edrik Abnous Masihi (team-high 14 points) with each scoring five points.
Five players scored for Glendale in the third quarter as Degrate (seven points) scored five and junior guard Mike Chebishian canned two three-pointers for his only points.
Henderson dumped in four points in the third quarter for the Indians, who made five of 13 and led 50-46.
