Freshman guard Anto Balian celebrating during Blue and Orange Madness on Oct. 3 at Firestone Fieldhouse. Balian averaged 31.9 points per game during his senior year at Rose & Alex Pilibos Armenian School. Photo by Melissa Houston
Anto Balian, Pepperdine Men’s Basketball freshman guard, is part of the new Waves’ look ahead of the 2025-26 season. Balian recently graduated from Rose & Alex Pilibos Armenian School and took his basketball journey to the next step: Pepperdine University.
Balian’s recent graduation from Rose & Alex Pilibos Armenian School marked the end of a long saga. Balian attended Pilibos from preschool to 12th grade and represented the basketball team from kindergarten until his high school graduation.
“From basically birth, I’ve had a basketball in my hand,” Balian said.
Armenians have a tradition called “agra hadig” or “atam hatik” that follows the arrival of an infant’s first tooth, according to the New York Times. Objects that represent different career options are placed in front of the infant, who then grabs the item as part of the celebration.
Freshman guard Anto Balian (right) grabs a basketball at his “atam hatik” celebration following the arrival of his first tooth. Balian’s father, Head Coach Sako Balian (left), coached Balian during his time as a student at Pilibos. Photo courtesy of Anto Balian
At the age of one, Balian grabbed a basketball. He said basketball has always been “in his DNA.”
“Basketball started with my life when I was little,” Balian said. “My dad was teaching me from a young age how to play the game, and eventually I fell in love with it, and now I get to play Division I ball.”
Balian was 13 when the COVID pandemic started. He said he put in work every day during quarantine and emerged a level ahead of his peers.
From his freshman year until his senior year at Pilibos, Balian was a part of the Varsity Men’s Basketball team. In his freshman year, Balian averaged 18.4 points per game through 28 games. Balian’s stats took a jump in his sophomore year, when he averaged 27 points per game and also went up in rebounds per game, from 5 in his freshman year to 8.9 in his sophomore year, according to Max Preps.
Along with improving on the stat sheet, Balian said he started to gain attention that took his game to the international level. At just 16 years old, Balian received a call up to the Armenian Men’s National Basketball team.
“Whenever I got called up to the Armenian Men’s National Team, Coach Rex [Kalamian] put faith in me to play against France, and that brought a spark in me that I can maybe make something out of this sport, and I could be good enough to play at the highest level,” Balian said.
In his junior year, Balian saw an increase in his points per game average, rebound per game average and assists per game average. Balian capitalized the season with a 51 point performance against Paraclete High School, according to Max Preps.
Freshman guard Anto Balian gets pulled up by his teammate during an Armenian Men’s National Basketball game on June 8 at Crescenta Valley High School. Balian has represented Armenia at the national level since he was 16 years old. Photo courtesy of Anto Balian
In Balian’s senior year at Pilibos, he saw an increase in his average points per game throughout the season, with 31.9 points per game, a stat that ranked No. 7 in the state of California while also ranking 15th in the state for field goals made, according to Max Preps. He started the season off with back-to-back 40 point performances and continued to dominate throughout the rest of the season, scoring under 20 points just once in a 35-point win,
Along with a standout senior campaign and the typical responsibilities of a high school senior, Balian had a choice to make: where he would continue his basketball journey beyond high school. Balian said he had been getting recruited as early as his sophomore year, but in his senior year, his future at Pepperdine started to come into fruition.
“Coach [Ed] Schilling, my head coach, came to one of my games and he was the first Division I coach to offer me a scholarship, and he put his faith in me and said that ‘We’re gonna offer you that scholarship,’ and I came on my official visit and I committed to Pepperdine,” Balian said.
Balian said he can’t explain how important it was to him to receive his offer the way he did. When Head Coach Ed Schilling gave him an official offer from Pepperdine, he did it in the office of his high school head coach: his dad.
“For 18 years of my life, I grew up in that office and Coach Schilling offered me in that office,” Balian said.”That was a feeling that you can’t you can’t replace.”
Schilling is now entering his second season as the Pepperdine Men’s Basketball’s Head Coach. Schilling’s first season was capitalized by the Waves’ WCC run at the end of season.
With the current state of the transfer portal and the effect it’s had on college basketball, the Waves’ squad has gone through the turnover that’s typical of a college program nowadays. A majority of this year’s roster is new to Pepperdine, with Balian and fellow freshman guard Ty Virgil being the squad’s only true freshmen, Director of Athletics Tanner Gardner said.
Schilling said in this day and age, you don’t recruit many freshmen. He brought over Balian because he fit the school, from an academic and spiritual standpoint, but that he could also be a part of Pepperdine Men’s Basketball for a potential of four years.
“We felt like he’s a guy that could be a pillar for the program that’s not looking to leave after a year,” Schilling said.
Freshman guard Anto Balian shoots a free throw during Blue and Orange Madness at Firestone Fieldhouse on Oct. 3. Balian and the rest of the 2025-26 team were presented to a Pepperdine audience during the event. Photo by Melissa Houston
Gardner described Balian as a friendly, affable person, and a great team guy who brings energy and positivity to the squad. Gardner said it was important for Pepperdine to get Balian for a number of reasons.
“We want to have more local talent on our roster, and so to be able to attract an athlete of Anto’s caliber who is a local LA kid was significant,” Gardner said. “Then Anto is a great student. And so he really embodies the type of student athlete that we want here, someone that values their academics and their athletics.”
Balian has gained traction within his community, being a trailblazer among Armenian basketball players. He is the first basketball player from an Armenian school to receive a DI scholarship, according to CBS.
“Making it from my school is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life,” Balian said. “If I made it from another school, people will be like, ‘Oh, he did it from Sierra Canyon, or he did it from there,’ but my culture, my community, knows that I made it from home, wherever everyone else calls home. I made it from there.”
Pepperdine opened the season with an 88-80 win against Life Pacific University at Firestone Fieldhouse on Nov. 3. The Waves next matchup is an away trip to No. 12 UCLA on Nov. 7 at Pauley Pavilion.
“Honestly, as a freshman, my expectation is just do whatever I can to get on the court,” Balian said. “I’m excited because it’s a process. It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Balian said.
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Email Nick Charkhedian: nareg.charkhedian@pepperdine.edu
