The Potomac Highlands Dispatch - the online newspaper

Thornton ties 3-point record to lead Mustangs past Spartans
* Senior hits eight from 3-point range, finishes with 44 points

By Kevin Spradlin
PhDispatch.com
FROSTBURG, March 19 -- Marcus Thornton had the last laugh after all.

The Bishop McNamara Mustangs senior had a poor shooting night in the first round of the 51st A.C.I.T. in Frostburg. On Saturday in the fifth-place game against host Bishop Walsh, Thornton had something else altogether.

Almost single-handedly, the College of William & Mary-bound star who entered tournament play averaging 23.1 points a game through 30 regular season games, beat the Spartans.

In fact, when Thornton left the court with three minutes and nine seconds left in the fourth quarter, Bishop Walsh had scored just three more points (47) than Thornton (44).

Thornton scored early and often. He scored inside the paint as well as tied a tournament record by hitting eight 3-pointers. The feat had been accomplished only twice before, by Shane Morrow of Cathedral Boys (Hamilton, Ontario) against Bishop Walsh in 1998 and by the Spartans' own Kamran Khataian against Judge Memorial (Salt Lake City, Utah) in 2008.

Despite Thornton's obvious dominance, he did miss a few shots. Those misses, coupled with a strong early defensive performance by the Spartans, helped Bishop Walsh take a 13-9 lead after the first quarter and, thanks to Quincy Redmon, a 15-9 lead 14 seconds into the second period.

Then the bottom dropped out of any attempt by the Spartans to win a second A.C.I.T. contest.

Ibn Muhammed's bucket pulled Bishop McNamara to within 16-14 with 6:24 left in the second quarter. Thorne hit a basket and completed the three-point play with a free throw for a 17-16 lead just 39 seconds later.

Then Thornton did the same thing 22 seconds later for a 20-16 Mustangs lead. Up 22-19 after a 3-pointer by the Spartans' Pat Jones, Thornton countered with his own 3-point field goal with 4:12 to go before halftime. He scored again 67 seconds after that, again 42 seconds later and hit two free throws 38 seconds after that.

In a short amount of time, the Thornton-fueled Mustangs had galloped to a 31-19 advantage still with 1:45 remaining before intermission.

The rout was on. Thornton's 3-pointer at the buzzer closed out the first-half scoring with Bishop McNamara ahead, 39-23. In 16 minutes of play, Thornton already had tallied 27 points, including 18 in the second quarter alone.

Thornton hit another buzzer-beating 3-pointer to finish the third period with 38 points - two more than the entire Bishop Walsh squad. Thornton hit two more 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. His eighth gave the Mustangs a 77-43 lead with 4:17 left in the game.

Redmon scored three points before Thornton left the game. Then, the Spartans outscored the Mustangs 8-3 over the final 3:09.