Boys Hoops: Cold-Shooting Falcons Bow Out in First Round

The boys basketball program has been known for decades as a team that relies on excellent outside shooting.

Wednesday night when the Falcons hosted Quartz Hill in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 1A playoffs, they looked nothing like the team so many in La Crescenta are accustomed to seeing.

As a result, they were stunned by the visiting Rebels by a score of 49-46.

“This all-around was probably the worst I’ve seen us play in 28 games,” CV coach Shawn Zagarian said. “I told the guys unfortunately we picked the wrong time to play the worst game.”

Seventh-seeded Crescenta Valley (20-8) made just five of 19 shots from 3-point range.

“Everyone told me they shoot real well, so I wanted to make sure we kept pressure on them at all times,” Quartz Hill coach Jon Ostler said. “That’s why we started running some different zones. Then they started hitting their shots and that’s why we finished in a (man-to-man defense).”

Quartz Hill (12-15) didn’t exactly shoot well either. But the Rebels went into the second-quarter leading 11-8.

CV led by as many as five points in the second quarter following a basket by Tade Keshishyan. But the Rebels fought back with back-to-back 3-pointers from Ivan Dooley and Wes Minikwu.

Keshishyan’s 3-pointer with 50 seconds left in the first half tied things at 19. A basket by Quartz Hill’s Lucciano Gamiz gave the Rebels a 21-19 halftime lead.

The Falcons never led in the third quarter, but they started to come on strong late in the period when Dylan Kilgour hit a 3 to tie the score at 29.

Kilgour went on to hit three more from downtown early in the fourth quarter. He led CV with 13 points.

The last one gave CV a 42-38 lead with 4:58 to play.

But Quartz Hill followed with a 8-0 run capped by a 3-pointer from Stephan Blidorescu.

The Falcons were unable to recover. Gamiz hit three free throws in the final 33 seconds to seal the upset.

“Mentally we talked about what we needed to do but we never got a chance to work on it in practice — that hurt us,” said Zagarian, who noted several key players missed practice in recent days due to the flu. “But it’s a game and you need to come ready no matter what.”

The Falcons coach said he was proud of what his players accomplished this season.

“We’ve had back-to-back 20 win seasons, and that’s something to hold your head up to,” said Zagarian, who will return five of his top six players next season.  “I told the guys when I look back at this team I’m going to remember the entire season, just not that last game.”

Junior Christian Misi finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and fellow junior Davis Dragovich had 12 points and 10 boards.