Burns Scorches Chatsworth for 33 Points in Reseda Victory

When Reseda High’s Marquis Burns has a hot hand, it takes more than a great defensive effort to extinguish the fire.

Chatsworth found that out the hard way Wednesday as Burns scored 33 points in the host Regents’ 66-59 victory in a West Valley League basketball game.

Everything seemed to fall for the UCLA-bound senior swingman, who scored 12 of Reseda’s 14 points in the first quarter. He converted turnaround jump shots and off-balance jump shots. Even a deep, misguided three-point basket banked in off the glass.

“Burns made every shot he took,” Chatsworth Coach Sandy Greentree said. “We played good defense on him. Christian Dunbar had a hand in his face on every shot, but it just didn’t matter.”

Burns was 14 for 22 (63.6%) from the field, but that performance paled in comparison to his four-for-six (66.7%), three-point shooting performance.

“This is what I’ve come to expect from him,” Reseda Coach Jeff Halpern said. “He has scored 20, 30 points in a game and I’m surprised, because he’s not flashy. He’s unpretentious. He just does the job.”

The victory gives Reseda (9-5, 4-1 in league play), the defending West Valley champion, the edge over Chatsworth (11-6, 3-2) in the race for the league title.

“We needed to win this game,” Burns said. “I try to get the guys as fired up as I can. Sometimes they have to fire me up.”

It was definitely the former in this case.

After his dominating first quarter, Burns sought assistance in the scoring department. On the Regents’ first offensive play of the second quarter, Burns drove down the left side of the key and easily could have pulled up for a short jump shot.

Instead, he passed the ball to Trenton Cross stationed beyond the three-point line and yelled, “Shoot!”

Cross, who scored nine of his 15 points in the second quarter, hit the shot to pull Reseda within 19-17. Burns scored only three points in the quarter but had four of his eight assists.

Reseda led, 34-31, at halftime, but the lead changed hands several times in the third quarter. Burns’ three-point basket with 1 inute 35 seconds left gave the Regents the lead for good at 45-42.

Chatsworth suffered from poor shooting in the second half. The Chancellors, who shot 52% in the first half, converted just nine of 34 shots (27%) in the second.