By Rick Assad
From the professional ranks to college and even high school, the three-point shot has been in vogue for quite some time.
On Monday night in a nonleague boys’ basketball match, host Burroughs High nailed 16 from long range versus Marshall and cruised to an 80-55 victory behind senior shooting guard Sam Horning’s game-best 27 points.
Horning scored in every quarter and was especially effective in the opening half when he drilled five from three-point range and tallied 21 points.
Of Horning’s 10 baskets, seven were three-pointers and four were dropped in the second quarter.
Over that eight-minute stretch, the Bears outscored the Barristers 26-11 and led 45-21 at halftime and also shot 51.6 percent and converted 16 of 31 from the field.
Horning’s three-pointer with 3:29 remaining in the second period saw Burroughs move ahead 32-14 as the Barristers asked for time out.
Horning scored seven points in the first period as did sophomore point guard Jagger Topp who finished with 14 points.
Topp’s three-pointer with one minute left in the first quarter saw the Bears pull ahead 16-10.
Junior small forward Chase Kardosh had 18 points and all of his points were three-pointers, including three consecutive in the third period and his last with 4:52 showing made it 54-28 and Burroughs (3-2) would eventually dash ahead 66-38 heading to the fourth period.
In that same frame, Topp accounted for seven points as six of the points came in the conventional form with a free-throw added.
The fourth quarter saw the Bears, who have now won three of four games that include a 75-67 triumph over Whittier and a 68-67 victory against Hart, tally 14 points while the Barristers scored 17.
Junior guard Thomas Mahoney added all of his four points in that frame and it included a trey.
Allan Ellis, the Bears’ coach, said the 16 made three-pointers has to be in the top five since he’s been the head man, which is seven seasons.
“That’s their identity. We’ve been trying to work on since the summer to the fall, sharing the ball, making good shots a better shot, finding the open man,” he said. “We’re harder to beat when we share the ball.”
Ellis added: “It’s harder for the defense to work from strong side to weak side,” he said. “It’s stuff we keep emphasizing. When we do it, we play well and today we did a good job of it.”
Small and quick with shooters, the Bears are going to hoist up a lot of three-pointers throughout the season.
“We’re a bunch of guards. We play fast and we’re looking to hit shots,” Ellis said of his deep team.
Meanwhile, the Barristers (2-3), who came into the match with a two-game winning streak after beating LACES 58-44 and Verdugo Hills 71-69 in overtime, were successful on just one three-point shot as senior guard Minsu Yi (seven points) dropped in a three in the third quarter.
Marshall was led by sophomore power forward Trevor Cohen with 12 points. All of his tallies came in the first three quarters and his big period was the third when he scored six points.
Center Romeo Likayi accounted for eight points for the Barristers with six coming in the fourth period.
The Bears’ shooting percentage went down in the second half to 34.3 percent on 11 of 32 from the floor as did the point production (35 points), but they were still in control of the game.
The Barristers converted 40.5 percent (15 of 37) in the second half and scored 34 points and outrebounded the Bears 47-30.
Burroughs went to the free-throw line eight times and drilled six while Marshall made four of six from the charity stripe.
The other Burroughs players scoring were sophomore point guard Jacob Samontina with five points, senior shooting guard Elden Jackson with four and Elijah Orjuela with three points.
Sophomore power forward Landon Everhart added two points, junior small forward Arthur Gabrielyan had two and junior point guard Francesco Sabato chipped in with one point.
