Boys Basketball Preview: Burroughs, Burbank, Providence Aiming High

By Rick Assad

In what is expected to be a strong showing from the three local boys’ basketball teams this season based on talent and experience, Burroughs High, Burbank and Providence are ready to make its mark.

Pasadena, which is coming off a 19-8 overall mark and 8-1 for second place in the Pacific League, advanced to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division II and is led by senior Joshua Irving, a 6-10 center who will play for Texas A&M.

The Bears have a new head coach, Jason Weatherall, and he has the team primed after a disappointing season a year ago in which the team went 5-22 and 0-8 in Pacific league play.

Burroughs has nine seniors, and they are wing Elliot Lawrence, wing Ethan Cooper, wing Ethan Lanier, wing Kane Le-Cabico, point guard Teagan Bradford, guard Cedric Valdez, guard Justin Herrera, guard Nico Meza, forward Weston Davis and point guard Nathan Rodriguez.

There are four juniors, and they include guard Chace Greene, wing Will Rowan, forward Lucas Lungu and forward Will Anderson.

There is one sophomore, shooting guard Rehaan Parikh and one freshman guard Colin Campion.

“Our expectations are to build on the experiences of last year and work to make our program something that the players, coaches, families, campus and community are proud of,” Weatherall said. “In the league, we know we are going to be battling three or four teams for third through eighth place given the fact we lost every game last season.”

Weatherall is confident this season will be much better.

“We expect to battle for any of those spots,” he said. “With the senior cast that we have returning, we should be poised for a better league finish than last year.”

Weatherall feels the leadership is there and that this is something to build upon.

“We will be led by our combo Elliot Lawrence, our sharpshooting wing Ethan Cooper, combo wing Evan Lanier, and our impact transfer point guard Justin Herrera,” he said. “Each player brings a unique skill set to the table that is essential for winning games.”

Burbank had a solid campaign a year ago after carving out a 21-8 record and 4-4 in league action for fifth place.

The Bulldogs qualified for the playoffs and fell in the opening round to host Hemet 90-69.

The team consists of seven seniors and they are shooting guard/small Anthony Jawiche, small forward Blake Finnigan, forward Giordan Lewis, shooting guard Nick Niazi, point guard Cris Ong, point guard Jon Isip and point guard Arthur Khachatryan.

There are six juniors and they are power forward Imani Young-Smith, point guard Jon Ong, point guard Jason Campos, shooting guard/small forward Alec Knight, shooting guard Kaleb Walker and point guard Avo Papikyan.

There is one sophomore, and he is shooting guard Lucas Gordzholadze and one freshman, point guard Niko Kimenyen.

Steve Eshleman is Burbank’s head coach and knows the season is going to be exciting and also believes it’s also going to be productive.

“The league itself is really strong and balanced this season,” he said. “We’ve got an extremely aggressive nonleague schedule so it will be interesting to see how that plays out.”

Eshleman will count on several leaders to show the way.

“Anthony Jawiche, Jon and Cris Ong are our returning starters but we are looking for a wide variety of players who have improved their skills during the offseason to step up and contribute,” he noted. “It should be an interesting season for sure.”

Providence, which went 14-13 and 6-1 in the Prep League for second place has left that league and will now compete in the Independence League.

The Pioneers went to the Division III quarterfinals are beating host Whitney 64-41 and host La Salle 53-51 before losing to visiting San Dimas 65-64.

The Pioneers boast seven seniors, and they are Riley Murphy, Griffin Berschneider, J.P. Birotte, Josh Coen, Leonardo Eliasian, Eze Kiel and Zeven Haskins.

Three juniors and they are Madden Velasco, Stephan Abrahamyan and Isaiah Kim and one sophomore, Bishop Thompkins.

Anthony Cosby is Providence’s head coach and looks forward to his team taking the floor.

“I’m excited and welcome the new challenge of this basketball season. I really like my team,” he said. “We’re battle tested, have great winning attitudes and expect success.”

Cosby knows his team is going to give great effort and hopes the results are good.

“I think our consistent hard work and preparation has put us in a good position to compete for a league title,” he stated. “We’re a mature team full of experienced talent that’s battle tested and has playoff experience. I pray we stay healthy, united and focused.”

Cosby added: “The new league is full of great talent and fantastic competitive coaches that I greatly admire and respect,” he said. “I wish everyone great success and health.”