Boys Basketball: Bloom topples Thornwood
By Dan Ruane For Sun-Times Media December 4, 2012 11:18PM
Updated: January 6, 2013 9:50AM
A bad loss to Rich South ended up paying dividends for Bloom. The Blazing Trojans showed great patience against the Thornwood zone Tuesday night and came away with a 50-38 victory before its home crowd.
“We shot 20 threes against Rich South,’’ Bloom coach Jasper Williams said. “We don’t shoot that many in a month. We were much more patient (Tuesday night) and we got better shot selection out of it.’’
Bloom (4-2) ended up shooting 59 percent from the floor for the game while attempting just five three-point shots (making none).
Instead, the Blazing Trojans patiently swung the ball from side to side and consistently found Jared Johnson and James Coleman for layups.
“We realized that playing as individuals wasn’t going to help us,’’ Coleman said. “Everybody had to play team ball, and we did.’’
Coleman finished with 12 points, including 10 in the second half. Johnson finished with a game-high 13 points as both 6-foot-4 junior inside players established themselves down low.
“We were playing too fast before,’’ Williams said. “This is last year’s team, where we could play that fast. At least not yet maybe as the year goes on that will happen.’’
Thornwood (3-3), on the other hand, forced many shots and fell behind 29-17 by halftime. Dante Thomas scored 10 points to lead the Thunderbirds.
The game was a revival of one of the old SICA East rivalries but it lacked the intensity of that former conference’s games.
“SICA East went by the wayside,’’ Williams said. “We still play games against those teams from that conference, but it just isn’t the same as when those games counted as a conference game.’’
