By Aaron Coloma

Pepperdine commit Antranik “Anto” Balian had 29 points, including 20 in the second half, to propel the  Pilibos Eagles to their 8th straight win, a 61-54 non-conference victory over the AGBU Titans Friday evening.

AGBU’s Isaiah Bennett notched 18 points of his own in the defeat, which marked the first time the Titans had lost consecutive games this season.

“The beauty of my team is anytime there’s a big game they’re always ready to play,” said Titans head coach Nareg Kopooshian. “This is a really good test for us heading into playoffs. It’s not a league game, so as long as we competed and know we gave ourselves a chance to win, that’s all that matters. Now we’re a little more battle tested heading into playoffs.”

AGBU struck first through a Garo Ohannessian three, but Pilibos responded with a 11-0 run, storming to an 11-3 lead. The Titans didn’t let themselves fall out of contention, however, as they fought back to reduce the deficit to four points by the end of the quarter, which ended 15-11.

They kept the pressure on going into the second quarter causing problems for the Eagles on defense. A three from Andre Kassabian at the end of the half would send the teams to the locker room knotted at 25.

“[The] game plan was to try to slow down Anto as much as we can,” said Kopooshian. “I think we did a decent job at slowing him down as much as we can. We battled all the way through to the end.”

Both teams came out of the tunnel firing, trading point for point for a majority of the third quarter. A 6-0 run from AGBU broke the deadlock and gave them their first lead since they scored the first points of the game.

“We were getting frustrated,” said Eagles head coach Sarkis Balian. “We started forcing some shots, including Anto. In the middle of the third quarter we all realized that we’ve got to move without the ball. The whole game changed.”

The lead wouldn’t grow beyond six though, as Anto Balian hit two threes as the third quarter came to a close to restore the lead to Pilibos. He would carry his momentum into the fourth, scoring 10 in a row and giving the Eagles a 55-43 lead.

“Honestly, it was a rivalry game, and the atmosphere got me into it,” said Anto Balian, who also played in three games for the Armenian National Team in a friendly tournament last June. “I got a big adrenaline rush and took over from there.”

The Eagles would not relinquish their lead, as the game ended 61-54.

“We’re feeling confident,” said Sarkis Balian. “I’m so very confident because I also have a couple of guys who are really good scorers like Anto. We went from being down to being up 13 points at one point. We missed some bad shots, but that last two and a half minutes I knew the game was secure.”

Pilibos followed this up with a 65-52 win at home against YULA on Saturday night to clinch the Independence League title. AGBU continues non-conference play at home against Northridge Academy Monday at 7:00 p.m.