Basketball

Zargarian & Sahagian Combine for 61 Points in Crescenta Valley’s 76-75 Come-From-Behind Pacific League Victory at Pasadena

Feb 02 2025 02:16:47

Photos by Conrad Hunziker III (https://www.instagram.com/ananamorph.spors.photos/)

Boys Basketball:

This one is going to sting for Pasadena.

The Bulldogs hosted Crescenta Valley in a battle of Pacific League unbeatens, and both programs were well aware that the outcome of Saturday night’s showdown would almost certainly secure the league crown.

PHS led by 12 points at the half, and they enjoyed a 14-point bulge in the third quarter.

To their credit, the Falcons rallied for a 76-75 victory.

They outscored their hosts, 54-41, in the second half, including a 32-20 run in the third quarter.

What made it so disappointing for Pasadena fans was the fact that PHS led for nearly the entirety of the game.

In fact, CV didn’t take their first lead until the midway point of the fourth quarter.

Crescenta Valley led 76-72 with less than 10 seconds to play.

Pasadena’s Troy Wilson hurried up court and buried a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one.

And that’s when CV went cerebral.

After Wilson’s 3, and knowing the clock would continue to run, they allowed nearly five seconds off the clock and didn’t inbound the ball until there was .7 of a second remaining on the scoreboard.

PHS had to commit a foul to stop the clock.

The CV shooter missed the first free-throw, and then he intentionally missed the second in the hopes of bleeding the clock dry.

However, his second attempt didn’t hit the rim, so Pasadena had one final shot to go the length of the court with the same .7 of a second to go.

I’ke Mitchell got the inbound pass from Troy Wilson and his shot came up short.

It set off a massive celebration on the court among the Crescenta Valley players and coaches.

Just before the CV free throws, there was approximately a three-to-four-minute discussion among the officials.

They were undoubtedly debating whether the clock should have stopped after the Wilson 3-pointer.

And they did in fact get the call right, as the clock does not stop by rule.

One Pasadena fan was so frustrated that she followed the refs until they got near the locker room area to make sure she was able to voice her displeasure about the final seconds of the game.

Vaughn Zargarian, one of the southern sections’ most lethal shooters, scored a game-high 35 points.

Zargarian scored 26 of his 35 in the second half, including 19 in the third quarter.

He also went 15-of-17 from the free-throw line.

Michael Sahagian chipped in with 26 points.

Sahagian had 22 second-half points.

One of the game’s defining moments came in the first half when Pasadena’s 6-foot-11 Josh Irving suffered a leg injury and he never returned.

Irving had been dominating inside, blocking shots and rebounding.

Six of his eight points came via slam dunks.

Troy Wilson led PHS with 19 points.

He scored 13 in the second half, including 10 in the fourth quarter.

Desmond Every contributed 14 points, and he went 8-for-10 from the free-throw line.

Brandin Carpenter provided 10 points and I’ke Mitchell finished with eight.

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Box Score:
CV: 13-9-32-22-(76)
PHS: 16-18-20-21-(75)

CV scoring: Vaughn Zargarian 35, Michael Sahagian 26, Andrew Ghazarian 7, Luke Derkalousdian 5, Arman Bedrossian 4

Pasadena scoring: Troy Wilson 19, Desmond Every 14, Brandin Carpenter 10, I’ke Mitchell 8, Josh Irving 8, Derek Jordan 6, DeMille Brown 5, Jahmir 2

Records: Crescenta Valley (16-7, 6-0); Pasadena (14-7, 4-1)

CV’s Remaining Schedule:
2/4: Arcadia at CV

PHS’ Remaining Schedule:
2/3: Burroughs at PHS
2/5: PHS at Muir

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