In what was the residence hall men’s intramural basketball season-opener for both Guess Which One’s and Gilbert’s Safety Locks, a 3-point shooting spree broke out.

Led by UI freshman Zen Gatton’s 17 points, Safety Locks came away with a 53-37 win over Guess Which.

Safety Locks performed well without a key player, Jerry Scherwin, who, Travis Dillavou said, was missing from action with a sprained ankle suffered during a pickup game at the Field House on Jan. 30.

Because of the injury, Scherwin was on the sidelines, running substitutions and coaching on crutches, doing what he could to keep the team focused.

During the course of the game, eight of the contest’s 14 players made 3-point shots, and all but one player attempted a shot from beyond the arc.

The first half started out slowly with both teams looking sluggish, but hustle and fast breaks took over around four minutes in.

Guess Which showed some effort in the first half with an impressive play. UI sophomore Jacob O’Leary rebounded a missed shot by Safety Locks and took the ball up the court. He passed to teammate Brian Olson in the corner, who followed with a quick pass inside to UI freshman Dugan Repass for a lay-up.

Despite this effort, Guess Which found itself trailing 28-16 at half.

Safety Locks took over in the beginning of the second half with Gatton, Seth Johnson, and Andrew Rachke each hitting 3s to move ahead by 15.

Repass, along with Chae Centeno and UI freshman Andy Kutcher, made up some of the deficit and Guess Which climbed to within 38-30, forcing Safety Locks to call a time-out.

Although things were looking up for Guess Which, it couldn’t keep up with the shooters on Safety Locks.

Repass got physical to try to get the ball back near the end, but he fouled out in the game’s final minutes.

Safety Locks pulled away to end the game with great free-throw shooting from UI senior Bryan Koestner, who finished with 13 points.

“Win or lose, it’s a good time, even if we lose by 20,” Repass said after scoring 15 points in defeat. “[Fouling out] happened to me all of the time in high school, so I’m used to it. [The referees are] in charge, and I’m not going to argue with what they see, even if some of it is questionable.”

Gilbert’s Safety Locks is named for NBA star Gilbert Arenas, who is serving a season-ending suspension stemming from a gun incident with Washington Wizard teammate Javaris Crittenton in December 2009.

After the successful opening performance, Gatton was upbeat about the season for Safety Locks.

“We definitely hope to make it to playoffs and improve by rebounding better and playing more pickup games,” he said.