Chinle Wildcats 6-3 senior shooting guard Cooper Burbank finished his illustrious high school basketball career in a losing effort against Gilbert Christian, 72-65, this past Saturday.

Throughout his Chinle career, Burbank was the Wildcats' go-to player. Burbank played his best game this year against Paradise Honors. He sent Chinle fans into frenzy, raising the roof in the Wildcat Den, by pouring in an individual career high 46 points.

Cooper tallied a game high 32 points, reaching 2,207 points during his fourth year as a Wildcat player. Cooper played in 122 games at Chinle for an 18.1 points per game average.

"He (Cooper Burbank) made the varsity team in his freshman year," said Chinle legendary head coach Raul Mendoza. "He became a starter about one third into the season of his freshman year."

Mendoza said Burbank's work ethic is tremendous.

"It was a pleasure to coach Cooper," Mendoza said. "He is a great individual to work with. He was very mature as a freshman and very knowledgeable about the game of basketball."

Mendoza said Burbank's strong area of the game is moving without the ball.

"Cooper has the ability to move without the ball that lead to a lot lay ups and open shots for him," Mendoza said. "I would say his strength was his understanding of the game."

Mendoza said Burbank is a versatile player on the floor.

"Cooper played the shooting guard position for the Chinle Wildcats, but we also used him in post area," Mendoza said. "He basically played all positions, except the point guard position."

Mendoza said Burbank worked at getting better to become the shooter and scorer that he became.

"His parents got him started at an early age and during his high school career he would come to the gym before school to work on his shot," Mendoza said. "He would shoot for an hour starting at 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. Cooper has a great work ethic, that has helped him to get this point in hig career as a shooter."