By Brandon HENSLEY

At least no one can say it’s not interesting. The Crescenta Valley Falcons’ boys’ basketball team improved to 3-1 in the Pacific League Wednesday night game in a solid defensive win at Burbank High School, 46-32.

So far in league, the Falcons have shown flashes of brilliance laced with examples of how the rest of the season will be hard fought when they won on Friday at home against Muir 52-41, and then lost a barn-burner at Burroughs on Monday 82-80.

The team will also move on without junior Kevin Dinges, who has left the program and is no longer enrolled at the school. Coach Shawn Zargarian said he received a text message from Dinges’ father last week informing him he wasn’t happy with his son’s role on the team. Dinges turned in his uniform on Friday.

Dinges was a transfer to CV last year, where he played on the junior varsity. He was previously at Renaissance Academy in La Cañada. Last spring, forward Nick Springer, who transferred to CV his sophomore season, left the school to play for Maranatha this season as a senior.

So the Falcons move on. Senior center Eric Patten had 15 points in the Muir game and point guard Berj Krikorian tallied eight points and five assists. Guard Kyle Currie, who lit up Glendale just days earlier with seven three-pointers, was mortal in this one, scoring six points, but his three-pointer a little more than midway through the fourth quarter was maybe the biggest basket of the game.

The Muir game was a bit reminiscent of the team’s match-up several years ago at CV when both teams finished with scores in the 30s (Muir won that game).

The Mustangs lost captains Jelani Mitchell and Tatus Mayberry, who were both listed at 6’ 5”, when they graduated last year. The team is now relying on Dejon Williams and Kelvin Turrentine, but even though the Falcons aren’t big, save for Patten at 6’ 6’’, there wasn’t a noticeable difference in size between both teams. Muir was 2-1 in league and 5-7 overall as of Wednesday.

The Burroughs game had to have been disappointing for Crescenta Valley as the Falcons led twice with under a minute left in the fourth quarter before letting it slip away. With less than 20 seconds left, the Indians’ Steve Hubbell appeared to have traveled as he broke away from a double team on the far sideline, but no call was made and he converted a lay-up to give his team the lead for good.

Another tough play happened moments before with CV up 77-76. Jakob Davis got inside position on Currie down low, received an entry pass and made a lay-up as Currie fouled him. Davis’ free throw was also good. With just 2.3 seconds left, Patten came down with a long pass from the opposite baseline and heaved a long three-pointer, but it fell just short.

Patten had 28 points and nine rebounds, Krikorian added a healthy 23 points and four assists and Currie poured in 13 points.

Burroughs, which routinely gets crushed by CV, pulled out a rare win against the Falcons and improved to 3-0 in league as of Wednesday.

The Indians’ win, though, probably shouldn’t be surprising. It’s thought of within the CV program that a team could lose three to four games and still win the Pacific League this year. Pasadena, the one that always wins league, has a new coach, new players and a new system. Plus, it lost last year’s seniors Brandon Jolley, Andre Spight and Perris Hicks.

Burbank is very young. The Bulldogs had three underclassmen help force overtime against Muir on Monday, though the Mustangs pulled out the win, which actually went five extra periods. Burroughs has two very talented seniors in Amaad Wainright (19 points against CV) and Rashid Ewing (21 points), and those guys weren’t on the team last year. It appears everything is up for grabs early on.

CV Boys’ Soccer Update
The Falcons’ boys soccer team fell to Burroughs on Monday 2-1, dropping their record to a still impressive 13-2-2, 2-1 in league. CV had been on a roll, winning 10 of its last 11 matches. Senior Matt Ryan was leading the club with six goals in three league games as of Wednesday. Justin Wright was second with three goals. Ryan has 18 goals overall in 17 games played. Tony Royer leads with 10 assists overall, and Wright is second with nine. MaxPreps has Crescenta Valley ranked sixth in the Division III standings.

CV’s next game is Friday at Pasadena, 2925 E Sierra Madre Blvd, at 3:30 p.m.

  Brandon Hensley, Jason BALLARD