"David Mansuryan is the leader of the team and he played well today," Glendale Coach Steve Snodgress said. "We feed off of that."
With Mansuryan constantly attacking the paint and the defense double-teaming him, his teammates were left unguarded on the perimeter.
"That was my main focus, to get the other team to collapse and kick it out," Mansuryan said.
On the receiving end of most of those passes was George Bazayan, who finished with 16 points, including some key baskets down the stretch.
After the Spartans cut the deficit to 10 points with 11:58 remaining in the second half, Bazayan responded with back-to-back layups, pushing the Nitros lead to 42-28.
The baskets proved to be all the cushion Glendale would need as Huntington Park got only as close as 52-40 with the game in its waning minutes.
"[Bazayan] stepped up for us and that's good support," Snodgress said.
The Nitros, who never trailed, opened the game with a three-pointer by Mansuryan and quickly built up a seven-point advantage on a three-pointer by Greg Gasparian four minutes in. That lead reached as many as nine points before Bazayan knocked in a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer for a 30-18 lead.
Derenik Kaloosi finished with 12 points and Gasparian had seven for the Nitros, who are undefeated in pool play after defeating Notre Dame, 65-54, on Thursday. Friday's win secured the Nitros a game against Hoover, today at 3:50 p.m. with the winner advancing to Sunday's championship game.
Continuing to evenly distribute the ball will continue to be the Nitros' focal point, but they still have some work to do on the other end of the court.
'[We need to] work harder on defense and rebounding the ball," Mansuryan said.
JONATHAN RABER covers sports. He can be reached at (818) 637-3226 or by e-mail at jonathan.raber@latimes.com.
