Falcons basketball rallies for summer-league victory over Chatsworth

BURBANK — Most of the Crescenta Valley High boys' basketball players are in uncharted territory. That's not necessarily a terrible position to be in with plenty of starting spots up for grabs.

With the pending graduation of four key players who led the program to the state playoffs in March, players like Narbeh Grigorian are aware of what's at stake in looking to crack the starting lineup next season. Grigorian appears to have gotten a head start.

He finished with a team-high 13 points, including two three-pointers in the fourth quarter, to help Crescenta Valley rally for a 49-45 victory against Chatsworth on Thursday afternoon in a Burbank Summer League game at Burbank High.

"Right now, it's about you against the team and that's a good thing because that makes each other better," said Grigorian, a guard who played on the junior varsity team last season. "We like the head-to-head thing.

"It's not about the wins right now. It's about trying to get better individually and as a team."

The Falcons lost Christian Misi, Davis Dragovich, Dylan Kilgour and Rudy Avila from a team that finished second in the Pacific League season before advancing to the CIF Southern Section Division I-A semifinals. The lone returner expected back will be guard Cole Currie, who did not participate in Thursday's game because he was preparing for finals.

Crescenta Valley received 11 points from Kris Jabourian, eight from Elliot Wilson and six from Berj Krikorian to get past Chatsworth, which held a 38-34 lead entering the fourth quarter. The Falcons took their first lead on a layup by Krikorian with 7:05 remaining in the game to make it 39-38.

Crescenta Valley took the lead for good when Grigorian made a three-pointer to make it 42-40 with 3:16 left. Nearly two minutes later, Grigorian made another three-pointer to extend the Falcons' advantage to 47-43.

"As a shooter, you don't think so much," Grigorian said. "It's aim and shoot.

"The second [three-pointer] felt very good."

Crescenta Valley Coach Shawn Zargarian, the reigning All-Area Boys' Basketball Coach of the Year, said spending the summer learning different facets of the game can be useful.

"For as young as we are, there are a lot of openings," said Zargarian, whose team trailed, 30-23, at halftime. "We are looking at these guys getting better from 1-12 and we've seen that through the first seven games we've played [during the summer].

"We do see improvement. It's fun when you see them do well in game like this. Narbeh is good at one thing and that's the three-point shooting. If he's open, he'll fire it and he made two huge shots."