By Brandon HENSLEY

The Crescenta Valley High boys’ basketball team took care of business Friday night at home against the Paloma Valley Wildcats. The Falcons took the opening round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1A playoffs 80-42, and will now play at Edison High School in Huntington Beach on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Junior guard Nick Springer was the hot hand for CV (21-7). He scored a game-high 32 points, 21 in the first half, as his team built a 45-16 lead after two quarters.

Coach Shawn Zargarian said the Wildcats’ game plan was to stop guard Cole Currie, “and Cole was okay being a facilitator, and it was great to see Nick step up and have the night that he did.”

 “We’ve always seen Nick as a flat-out scorer,” Zargarian said. “Once he develops a little off the dribble move, he’s going to be hard to stop.”

Springer’s night included converting a four-point play and knocking down all of his eight free throw attempts. Currie finished with seven points, all in the first quarter.

But it didn’t matter. Led by sophomore guard Berj Krikorian’s nine assists, CV’s fast break attack and all-around passing were too much for Paloma Valley.

“They were getting more of a kick out of passing the ball, watching their teammate make a shot rather than themselves making a shot,” said Zargarian of his team.

Preston Green led the Wildcats with 13 points.

The blowout allowed Zargarian to put in several junior varsity call-ups in the fourth quarter, including Gio DeGuzman and Kyle Currie, younger brother of Cole. The Falcon student section went wild as Cole and Kyle entered the game together.

  basketball, Brandon Hensley