First published in the Dec. 18 print issue of the Burbank Leader.
After Crescenta Valley High School’s varsity boys’ basketball team opened the first quarter with an 11-2 scoring run, the Falcons never looked back and defeated visiting Burbank High, 53-47, in a Pacific League game Thursday evening.
CVHS senior Quinlin Daly had a career night, scoring a game-high 29 points to lead the Falcons (4-0 in league, 11-2 overall record) to their sixth consecutive victory.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs (1-3 in league, 3-5 overall) fell to fifth place in the league standings while losing their fifth game in their last six.
Burbank’s top scorers were senior guard Phoenix Mosely (16 points) and junior wing Sattwik Banerjee (13 points).
“As a unit, we didn’t get the shots we wanted, so it was good that [Mosely and Banerjee] did what they did, but it wasn’t conducive to what we wanted to do,” Burbank head coach Sid Cooke said.
The last quarter was the Bulldogs’ best, as they outscored Crescenta Valley 23-11, highlighted by an 8-0 scoring run to cut the deficit to 46-40. However, Daly’s four-point play with 1:26 remaining to make it 51-42 helped solidify the Falcons’ victory.
Behind Mosely and Banerjee, Bulldogs senior wing Alex Emami, junior shooting guard Julian Gonzalez and senior strong forward Arman Danielian each scored five points, while senior teammate Nathan Contreras added one field goal from behind the arch.
“I don’t think we had enough energy as we should have,” Cooke said. “We just didn’t execute; we didn’t follow through with the game plan. [CV was] the better team. They played as a team, and we didn’t.”
The Bulldogs will host Los Angeles Windward in a nonleague game on Tuesday, Dec. 21, at noon.
