Glendale’s Bombs Mostly Duds, 68-40

Some teams live by the three-point shot, others die by it.

And by the time the first quarter ended Friday night in a game between Glendale and Muir highs, Glendale was just about dead.

Muir hit five three-pointers in the opening quarter, then coasted to a 68-40 Pacific League victory which put the Mustangs in first place and knocked Glendale out of the top spot and clear back into third.

Glendale (16-6, 4-2 in league play) missed its first 12 three-point attempts, not connecting from long range until a minute into the final quarter.

By that time, the Mustangs (13-11, 5-2) had the game well in hand.

Muir forward Kenny Wagner led the assault with three first-quarter three-point baskets, including two in the final minute to stake the Mustangs to a 22-10 lead.

Wagner finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

“We felt we had something to prove,” Wagner said. “We had our momentum back, came out and played well.”

Two weeks ago, Muir handed Glendale its only other loss in Pacific League play, though the margin in that game was only four points.

Mustang guard Adrien Reyes, star of the first Muir-Glendale game, was held to eight points, but it didn’t matter.

Glendale missed four three-pointers in the opening quarter, but that was nothing compared to the outset of the second half.

The Dynamiters went nearly six minutes without scoring a point, while Muir built a 40-20 lead from an 11-point halftime advantage.

“We had high expectations for this game and we had high results,” Muir Coach Rocky Moore said.

“They came out in a zone defense but we came out with good ball movement and played well throughout.”

Ramon Jose led Glendale with 10 points but made four of 19 shots.

Glendale hit only three of 20 shots from three-point range and was 16 of 60 from the field. Forward Tamar Iskander scored eight points, all in the fourth quarter, for the Dynamiters.

Dwayne Curtis had 18 points and Jamal Johnson added 12 points and 11 rebounds for Muir.