It was as if time had suddenly stopped as the high-arching three-point shot launched by a Northeast Bradford player almost seemed destined to hit the heating vents suspended high above the Montgomery Community & Athletic Center gym. When gravity intervened the seemingly desperate shot found nothing but white nylon cord tying the Panthers game against South Williamsport at 64 and sending it into overtime.

Among the many now famous lines in the classic 1986 movie “Hoosiers” was one uttered by the movie character Wilbur ‘Shooter’ Flatch when forced to take over as coach when coach Norman Dale was ejected from a game. ‘Shooter’ pleaded with his players to “make um chuck it from the cheap seats.” On that night his strategy worked, but it is not the kind of advice basketball coaches are giving their squads these days.

Indeed, the ‘cheap seats’ are much harder to find in all levels of basketball as the three-point shot, like it or not, has changed the way the game is being played.

The origin of the phrase “lead, follow or get out of the way” is unclear but it has been uttered over the years by General George Patton, former Chrysler executive Lee Iacocca and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, among others. Today, even the more seasoned coaches are being forced to ‘adjust’ to counter the game-changing effect of that shot tossed in from the cheap seats.

In the aforementioned game, South Williamsport was able to recover via an 11-2 scoring advantage in the overtime stanza in their 75-66 opening game win, but they were not alone in experiencing the three-point avalanche during the season’s opening weekend. Williamsport drained eight 3-pointers in defeating the defending 6-A state champion Reading 65-62. Canton and Austin hit on 13 3s in the Warriors 70-61 victory. Loyalsock drained nine tres in blasting North-Penn Mansfield 101-63. Montoursville and Warrior Run combined for 16 long-range shots in the Warriors 68-59 win. The ultimate 3-point victim was St. John Neumann who fell to St. Joseph’s 67-60 greatly aided by 13 shots made from ‘downtown.’

It has often been said that the best way to get to the Major Leagues is as a catcher, or have a more injury-free football career as a placekicker. While many basketball coaches might not like it, they will always find room on their roster for the player who is proficient at draining the three-ball. The shot is a deflating game-changer to opponents unable to counter its deadly efficiency.

George Popovich, the longtime coach of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs recently sarcastically bashed the exaggerated importance of the three-point shot in the modern NBA, calling the philosophy “not real basketball.” “Let’s have a 4-point shot. Or a 5-point shot and make it really fun for the fans. Let’s make it a circus,” he said.

As old school as they come, Popovich’s remarks on the NBA’s over-reliance on firing shots from beyond the arc came on the same night Golden State’s Klay Thompson set a league record for the most made three-pointers in a game by draining 14 in his team’s win over the Chicago Bulls.

These days, the 3-pointer is second-nature to basketball players and fans at all levels of play. It is probably a safe bet that nobody under the age of 30 has any recollection of basketball being played without a 3-point line.

It all began back in 1961 when the three-point shot was used in the old American Basketball League. The ABL only lasted 1 ½ seasons before it folded. The 3-pointer disappeared with it. But it didn’t take long for it to reappear.

On November 13, 1967, the Indiana Pacers of the new American Basketball Association were losing to the Dallas Chaparrals, 118-116, with just one second left on the clock. Indiana inbounded the ball to Jerry Harkness, who was 92 feet away from the basket. With no time to do anything else, Harkness threw a towering ‘Hail Mary’ heave toward the basket. It smacked off the backboard and went it.

Pandemonium erupted in Dallas, but for all the wrong reasons. 1967 was the first year of the 3-point shot in the new league, and the players and fans weren’t yet used to it. Many of the fans thought the Harkness miracle had tied the game and forced overtime. In fact that shot, from 68 feet behind the brand new 3-point line, had won the game 119-118 for the visiting Pacers. The rest, as they say, is history.

Although the distances differ between all levels of basketball, the 3-point line is universal. The NBA has a 22-foot 3-point line in the corners and a 23-foot, 9-inch line elsewhere. The WNBA and the International game plays with a 20-foot, 6-inch line. The NCAA men’s game has a 20-foot, 9-inch line while the NCAA women and high schools use a 19-foot, 9-inch line.

But regardless of what court one may go to little kids just learning the game know where that 3-point line is. That 3-point shot is basketball’s three-point home run. While ‘chicks may dig the long ball’ it has changed the game and in many fan’s and coach’s eyes, not for the better.

Next time you go to any youth basketball practice or game, watch what the kids are doing shooting around. Those ‘cheap seats’ are a lot closer than they were back in 1986.