A 14-point win wasn’t enough to get Hart boys basketball coach Tom Kelly to crack a smile Wednesday night.
A night after one of their best passing performances of the season, leading to their second-highest point total of the year, the Indians were much more careless with the ball against Burbank.
Hart found some of its rhythm from the night before in the fourth quarter, though, working to a 66-52 win in its second pool-play game of the Hart Holiday Classic.
“I thought we played selfish on both sides of the ball,” Kelly said. “With the way we’re built, we need to be five guys on defense and I thought we were all on an island tonight.
“ … Guys were trying to make things happen when nothing was there; just share the ball.”
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Hart (10-3) ended the third quarter with a turnover and began the fourth quarter in the same fashion. Burbank trailed by just three at the beginning of the final quarter.
But the ball movement Kelly is more accustomed to watching from the sideline began to shine through. Tre Harill, who led Hart with 17 points, logged one of his five assists of the night by finding Cory Sveiven up the middle of the floor for an easy layup, giving the Indians a 62-46 lead with a little over a minute to play.
Sveiven was second on the team with 14 points, adding five assists and five rebounds.
“When the ball stays in one guy’s hands, were not very good,” Kelly said. “We began to move away from that toward the end of the game.”
Burbank opened the night on an 8-0 run but Luca Robinson had seven points and five rebounds in the first quarter to cut Burbank’s lead to 15-13. Hart entered the half with a 37-34 advantage.
Robinson led Hart with nine rebounds while adding 13 points.
“He can go aggressively to the basket,” Kelly said of Robinson. “When we get him some space and let him go to work, he can be effective.”
Caleb Waldeck was the final Hart player to score in double figures, recording 11 points. Tyrese Willis led Burbank with 17 points.
Hart finishes out pool-play in its holiday classic Thursday against Eastside. A win would likely set up a matchup against highly-touted Sierra Canyon in the tournament’s championship on Friday.
