By Rick Assad
It wasn’t raining outside, but it sure was raining three-pointers inside when the host Burroughs High boys’ basketball team faced Muir.
The Bears, who had only eight players suited after four were suspended after a skirmish late in the Crescenta Valley game, canned six from three-point range while the Mustangs dropped in 12 which helped fortify a 75-54 Pacific League win on Thursday night.
Burroughs coach Allan Ellis wasn’t happy with the outcome but does envision better days ahead.
“They [Muir] got hot from the three-point line and we didn’t do a good job of running them off the three-point line,” he said.
Longtime Burroughs assistant coach Scott Koulouvaris agreed with Ellis.
“Muir played great. They hit a high percentage from three [point range] and we couldn’t find our rhythm at all from the outside,” he said. “We shot poorly.”
Koulouvaris added: “Defensively we gave them too many easy looks. We played with a lack of urgency tonight,” he said. “They [Muir] played four quarters and we played for one quarter.”
Muir (4-6 and 3-0 in league) took 17 more shots from the field than Burroughs and made 25 compared to 18 for the Bears.
“We’ve been dealt a bad hand throughout the start of the league,” Ellis said. “Every game it’s news and setbacks that are affecting the team. We haven’t had our full team play and we won’t until after the Christmas tournament.”
Burroughs (3-4 and 1-3 in league) had two fairly productive quarters in the first and third that totaled 32 points.
Muir had back-to-back gigantic periods in the second and third when it scored 47 points.
T.J. Lumpkin poured in a team-best 21 points for the Bears, Nick Schlander added 12 points and DeSean Robinson contributed 11 points.
Ellis liked the way the team played despite the team not being at full strength.
“I thought the eight today battled hard in the first quarter and a half, but it seemed like we ran out of gas,” he said. “Our defense and rebounding were non-existent after the first quarter.”
The Bears were outrebounded 48-41 and outshot 34.7 percent (25 of 72) to 32.7 percent (18 of 55).
Burroughs came out strong in the initial period as it tallied 17 points with Robinson scoring five points that included the first of his three from three-point range.
Meanwhile, in that same frame, Schlander delivered four points and his only trey of the game.
Muir scored 14 points in the first quarter as sophomore guard Bradley Jones (11 points) canned two of his three three-pointers.
Lumpkin added six points in the second period, but the team finished with 11 points.
The Mustangs saw sophomore guard Robert Harvey (21 points) connect on four of his six three-pointers in the second quarter.
Lumpkin and Schlander each accounted for six points in the third period as the Bears had 15 points over the eight-minute stretch.
Muir had five players score in the third frame as the team tallied 26 points.
Lumpkin tossed in six more points in the fourth quarter, but Burroughs only managed to score 11 points.
Harvey scored seven points with six coming on two three-pointers in the fourth quarter as the Mustangs were limited to 14 points.
Jagger Topp contributed five points, Jake Jackson tossed in three points and Sam Horning added two points for the Bears.
