TORRANCE — The Burbank High boys' basketball team was facing an uphill battle in its playoff game Friday night.
Squaring-off against Bishop Montgomery — the No. 2 seed who was riding an 11-game win streak — the CIF Southern Section Division IIAA first-round contest proved to be anything but easy for the Bulldogs.
With no answer for the Knights quickness and athleticism, the Bulldogs found themselves on the wrong end of a lopsided game, as they fell on the road, 83-56.
"We knew they were a tough team, and we knew about their storied program," Burbank Coach Jose Hernandez said of Bishop Montgomery. "They are a good team and they play really, really hard.
"It was a little bit too much for us tonight."
Coming off a 52-47 wild-card win against Montclair on Wednesday, the Bulldogs were unable to keep up with the Knights.
Bishop Montgomery's Leland Jones, Aaron Ware and Justin Cobbs combined for 43 points, with each registering 15 or more points. When the three weren't dominating inside, they were using their speed to get out on fastbreaks for easy transition layups and dunks, which electrified the home crowd.
"They were just a little too quick for us," Hernandez said.
Showing a will to fight back, the Bulldogs managed to keep themselves in the game until midway through the third quarter.
After trailing by as many as 10 points in the second quarter and 34-25 at the half, the Bulldogs slowly chipped away at that lead.
Sevak Amranyan, who finished with a team-high 18 points — the Bulldogs lone player in double-digits, — converted a layup with 6:08 remaining in the third quarter to get his team to within five points, 36-31.
However, the Knights (22-3) wasted little time regrouping and responded with a subsequent 9-2 run to regain a double-digit advantage.
Burbank (13-15) trailed, 58-41, heading into the final quarter and tried to battle as Bishop Montgomery stretched the lead to an insurmountable margin.
"I thought our guys played hard, but our shots didn't go in tonight," Hernandez said. "We just couldn't stay with them."
Pedro Armendariz finished with eight points and Robert Linda and Nikos Christianakis had six points each for the Bulldogs, which finished sixth in the Pacific League.
The Bulldogs opened the game with a layup by Armendariz for a 2-0 lead. The only other lead the team held the rest of the way was following a layup by Simon Ovakimian for an 8-7 advantage with 4:19 left the first quarter.
The loss was a bittersweet ending to a hard-earned playoff appearance for Burbank.
"We weren't satisfied with just getting in," Hernandez said. "Our goal was to move on. We didn't come down here just for the trip."
