By Brandon HENSLEY

As Arman Pezeshkian was being helped up by a teammate, his expression pleaded with the nearest referee for a foul to be called. Moments earlier, Pezeshkian threw up an off-balanced three-point attempt to tie the game against Saugus, but the buzzer sounded, the try missed and Pezeshkian went to the floor with no whistle accompanying his fall.

Despite the 55-52 summer league loss Tuesday at Burbank High, Pezeshkian and the rest of his Crescenta Valley varsity basketball teammates dusted themselves off and thoroughly defeated Grant High School 64-30 in the Falcons’ second game of day.

The split made CV’s summer record 14-4 as the team heads into a tournament at Glendale College starting today at 4 p.m.

Head Coach Shawn Zargarian said his approach to this summer is different than in years’ past. All of the games are condensed into the month of June, with no practices and no instruction time.

“We’re not running any play calls, we’re not making any defensive adjustments,” he said. “Just, offensively, go out and play; keep moving, take good shots, run the floor. And defensively, just be fundamentally sound and rotate.”

Zargarian sat as a spectator for the Saugus game with former Falcon coach John Goffredo, leaving it up to assistant DoVall Boykins to run the show. Zargarian joined the team for the Grant game. The boys may have been tired, but CV easily took care of Grant, racing out to a 15-2 lead. Grant got as close as 29-14, but the Falcons then scored the next 23 points.

In that game, CV employed plenty of full-court traps on defense and Zargarian was able to put in newcomers Noah Domingo and Arvin Abrehamian for extended minutes.

“We’ve played 18 games already. Just like anything in life, you get tired sometimes and you start to do one or two bad things. For us, don’t let those become bad habits,” Zargarian said.

He also noted how the team is progressing this summer and is capable of being better than last season. Zargarian said he is going to include more players in his rotation, the offense will be up tempo, and there will be trapping and pressure on defense.

“This style of play will try and carry over into the season,” he said.

Since Rosemont Middle School began its basketball league several years ago, Zargarian appreciates what those coaches have done to prepare their players for high school. While some of the standout players at Rosemont, such as Grady Schilling and Will Smiley, have gone to play other sports solely (football and baseball, respectively) others like Trey Ballard, who graduated last year, and incoming sophomore Tyler Carlson, have benefitted from Rosemont’s system. Carlson has played heavy minutes this summer.

“I’ve been so lucky to have Brent and Scott Alvarez as coaches,” Zargarian said of the Rosemont staff. “They’re teaching players the right things. [Players are] coming [to CVHS] understanding how to play basketball the right way.”

“With Brent Ballard,” Zargarian continued, “you have a guy who knows how to play the game, and he played at La Cañada. He’s teaching them the right things.”

CV plays at GCC from today until Sunday. It wraps up summer league on Tuesday at Burbank High at 9 p.m.

  Brandon Hensley