Lady Bears route the Lady Bulldogs 71-27 to clinch the Pacific League Title outright and the Bulldogs defeat the Bears 57-42 in the boys contest 

It was a tale of two games for the John Burroughs Bears Basketball teams as they settled for a doubleheader split with their cross town rival Burbank Bulldogs. The Lady Bears clinched their first Pacific League Title since 2018, their eighth in program history under Vikki Oganyan. Their blowout 71-27 win over the Lady Bulldogs saw Mariam Fahs leading the way with 18 points for Burroughs. The Burbank Bulldogs got a win in a huge way over the Burroughs Bears and came out on top 57-42 to increase hope of a CIF Southern Section Playoff berth behind the 24 point performance by Kevin Dabashian. 

The girls game began the night to kick off the Wednesday night basketball doubleheader. Back on Monday, Burroughs clinched a share of the Pacific League title with their 48-40 win over Pasadena and Burbank secured a narrow 40-36 win over Hoover. 

Prior to tip off both programs honored the graduating seniors from their respective teams.  Burroughs celebrated Mariam Fahs, Ella Anderson and Isabella Davtyan and Burbank payed tribute to their seven graduating seniors on the Lady Bulldogs squad. Those seven seniors are Ava Casey, Lauren Navarro (team captain) Emily Galoustian, Alex Richins, Leandra Nazarian, Mary Mkrtchyan, and Talyiah Herdsman.

On the basketball court, the Lady Bears jump off to a fast start by going on a 12-2 scoring run to begin the first quarter. Valentina Morales, Jessica Mena and Fahs all chipped in with the scoring to start. Burroughs continued their parade of points throughout the first quarter and led 22-3 at the end of one quarter.

Fahs and Andrea Aparicio traded baskets for their respective teams to begin the second quarter along with Herdsman’s two point shot with Burroughs leading 24-7. Burroughs continued its one sided play in the quarter and ended the first half with a 37-12 lead over Burbank at the half. 

Following the halftime break, Grace Barton and Fahs got their points at the foul line to begin the third quarter. Barton nailed both of her free throws and Fahs scored while being fouled and completed the three point play to help the Lady Bears lead 42-12. The contest continued to be all Burroughs, who led 55-22 heading into the final quarter. 

Ella Anderson started off the fourth quarter with a two point shot for the Lady Bears and Aparicio responded with a basket of her own. Burroughs played hungry throughout the contest and came away happy with a 44 point victory to clinch the Pacific League Championship. 

“It’s great for our program and school for this team to bring home another Pacific League title. I’m proud of the players’ coaching staff and without the support of the administration we wouldn’t be in this position.” Ognanyan mentioned that Mariam Fahs led the league in scoring all year long when asked about her 18-point peformance. 

“Senior night is always a special day for me, we recognized all seven of them that have been there for all four years of their high school careers.” said Alexa Mirzaian. Mirzaian admitted that the loss to Burroughs was tough and sounded hopeful that the Lady Bulldogs will have a spot in the CIF Southern Section Playoffs. 

Burroughs finishes off the regular season with a 19-9 overall record and a 7-0 record in the Pacific League while Burbank finishes the regular season with a 14-11 record and a 3-4 record in Pacific League play. The Lady Bears will find out their CIF Southern Section Playoff opponent over the weekend and the Lady Bulldogs will also find out this weekend if they will get into the Playoffs with an at-large bid. 

The boys game was played in primetime to conclude the cross town rivalry doubleheader. The Bulldogs came in off a dominant 119-49 win over Lake Balboa College Prep and Burroughs suffered a 34 point loss to a powerhouse Pasadena squad. 

Prior to the game the Burbank Boys Basketball program paid tribute to six of their graduating seniors on the team along with recognizing 11 cheer seniors. Those graduating seniors that were honored were Kamaran Alborzian, Aren Malekian, Areg Aslanyan, Arthur Ambaryan, Kevin Dabashian (team captain), and Kenny Rivas. 

Kevin Dabashian and Elliot Lawrence traded points to start off the night. Evan Lanier nailed a three-point shot to give the Bears a 5-2 lead before Anthony Jawiche put the Bulldogs within one with his two point layup. Cris Ong and Dabashian scored back-to-back baskets to help Burbank jump out to an 8-5 lead. Tegan Bradford sank a buzzer-beating three-point shot to end the first quarter, putting Burroughs within nine heading into the second quarter. 

Following Bradford’s shot to end the opening quarter, he struck again with another three-point basket to start the second quarter. Daniel Beltran also nailed a three-point shot to get the Bears within three of the Bulldogs. Kevin Dabashian and Kamaran Alborzian both responded with baskets of their own to give Burbank a 24-16 lead. The Bulldogs continued to have control of the contest throughout the second quarter and headed into the halftime break with a 33-23 lead over Burroughs. 

Eillot Lawrence started off the second half with back-to-back shots to inch the Bears closer to the Bulldogs. Lawrence began the third quarter with a three-point basket and followed that with a two-point shot to make it a five point game. The Bears continued to make it interesting throughout the third quarter as Evan Baker scored while being fouled and then converted the three-point play to end the third quarter with the Bears still trailing 39-35 over the Bulldogs. 

The Bulldogs strong fourth quarter propelled them to put the game away with back-to-back clutch shots by Jonathan Ong along with optimism of securing an at-large bid for the CIF Southern Section Playoffs.

 “I am proud of how my guys played tonight. We had a lot of guys that haven’t played on the varsity team heading into the season but at the same time next season is gonna be great since we will have seniors and be more experienced.” said Darryl Carter. Carter added that Elliot Lawrence, Evan Baker, Tegan Bradford and Evan Lanier played well in the loss to Burbank. 

“We went from six wins to 20 wins in one year which is a credit to the kids, our lower levels did their jobs all year long and the program is on the up tick.” said Steve Eshleman. Eshleman also stated that the kids did not waiver and were on task throughout the game but at times did not shoot the ball well. 

Burroughs’s season has come to a close and will prepare for next season. They finish with a 5-19 overall record and an 0-7 record in Pacific League play. The Burroughs Bears should have a competitive team next season which will finally feature a roster of seniors headlined by Evan Baker, Evan Lanier and Elliot Lawrence which will be Darryl Carter’s first ever senior group since taking over the John Burroughs High School Boys Basketball program. 

Burbank finishes the season with a 20-7 record and a 3-4 record in Pacific League play which is the first 20 win regular season in school history for the Bulldogs. Burbank will find out its playoff fate over the weekend as they expect to receive an at-large bid to get into the CIF Southern Section playoffs.