By Rick Assad
There were ebbs and flows and most of them fell in the direction of the host Burbank High boys’ basketball team on Thursday evening when it faced rival Burroughs.
The Pacific League contest was intense and physical at times and when the four quarters were played, the Bulldogs emerged with a 69-50 victory.
Burbank (14-5 and 4-3 in league) converted 10 of 15 shots for 66.6 percent in the first quarter while holding Burroughs (7-13 and 2-5 in league) to four of 12 for 33.3 percent and led 24-11.
In that frame, senior small forward Anthony Jawiche scored 11 of his 19 points and also made two three-pointers.
On the night, the Bulldogs drilled 28 of 57 from the field for 49.1 percent while the Bears made 17 of 50 for 34 percent.
On the backboards, Burbank outrebounded Burroughs 44-22 and that was a key difference.
Junior shooting guard Avo Papikyan added five of his 10 points for the Bulldogs and junior wing Kaleb Walker tossed in four of his 10 points in the initial frame.
The Bulldogs led 38-18 at the intermission after making seven of 11 for 63.6 percent from the field in the second period.
Burbank senior point guard Cris Ong, who tallied a game-best 22 points, scored eight points in the second stanza.
In the fourth period, Ong tacked on seven points and scored all of his points in the second, third and fourth quarters.
Tighe Eshelman is one of the Burbank assistant coaches and was beaming with what he witnessed.
“I really liked our competitiveness tonight,” he stated. “Burroughs came out with some big adjustments in the second half and I think our guys did a great job to weather the storm.”
The only quarter in which the Bears outscored the Bulldogs was the third when it tallied 20 points to 14 for the hosts as senior point guard Justin Herrera dropped 10 of his team-high 21 points.
Jason Weatherall is in his first season as the Burroughs head coach and gave credit to the opponent.
“[Steve] Eshleman and his staff do a great job of getting them to play with pace and make shots,” he said. “The environment was unreal. My guys are tough and never give up. We just didn’t hit enough shots.”
Senior wing Ethan Cooper finished with eight points as did senior guard Nico Meza for the Bears who made 11 of 23 from the floor in the second half for 47.8 percent.
Senior small forward Giordan Lewis had four points for the Bulldogs and junior point guard Jon Ong finished with two points and senior wing Blake Finnigan also added two points.
Senior wing Evan Lanier tossed in five points for Burroughs and senior wing Elliot Lawrence also contributed five points while senior wing Kane Le-Cabico tossed in two points and senior guard Nathan Rodriguez had one point.
At the free-throw line, Burbank hammered eight of 16 for 50 percent and Burroughs made 10 of 18 for 55.5 percent.
Rick Assad
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