It would be hard to find an Illinois high school basketball coach who is enjoying the holidays more than Thornwood`s Al Holverson.
The Thunderbirds, who had won only two games going into the York tournament, play Monday night for the championship. Happy New Year, coach.
”We`re very pleased,” said Holverson, whose team plays fourth-seeded Lane Tech (7-2) in the title game. ”We`re kind of pulling together. The things we`ve been working on are starting to take shape, especially defensively.”
Thornwood has raised its record to 5-7 with victories over Willowbrook, third-seeded Glenbard North and second-seeded Wheaton Central. The most recent victory, a 55-41 triumph Saturday night, came against a much taller team.
”Size-wise, we`re little kids,” said Holverson, whose tallest starter is 6 feet 2 inches. ”Against Wheaton Central, we were going against 6-8, 6-6, 6-4. We tried to combat it with 6-2, 6-1. We packed the zone in. They didn`t get any scoring punch from inside.”
Before the tournament, getting scoring punch and avoiding a knockout punch had been problems for Thornwood, whose 14-13 record last season was its first winning one in 10 years.
”We had a lot of ballgames earlier where we were in them down the stretch,” said Halverson, in his second year as head coach. ”In the last minute or so, we`d do some things that would cause the loss. Just general things. One game this, one game something else. Opponents rose to the occasion, too.”
Now Thornwood is on the rise. The Thunderbirds are led by sophomore guard Tony White, the only player who had a lot of varsity experience last season. White is averaging 16.5 points; senior forward Bill Kreidler is averaging 10. ”When you lose games, everybody thinks they should be playing,” said Holverson. ”We`ve been playing eight guys, nine guys. The fellows coming in off the bench have been making good contributions.”
Other key starters have been junior forward Larry Stewart and junior forward-center Floyd Fields, who is doubtful for Monday after twisting an ankle against Glenbard North.
Thornwood entered the tournament tied with Thornton for last place in the South Inter-Conference Association East Division. SICA East co-leader Bloom Trail routed Thornwood 91-57 Dec. 20, the Thunderbirds` last game before the York tournament.
Gordon Tech, the No. 1 seed at York, was upset 60-58 Friday by Addison Trail, which lost Saturday to Lane Tech. Gordon had a 55-44 lead in the fourth quarter, but couldn`t withstand Addison`s comeback, which was keyed by Dan Infantino`s six points in the last two minutes.
Lane Tech`s No. 1 player is 6-5 Adrian Moore. ”They`ve got a well-balanced attack,” Holverson said. ”Adrian Moore is an excellent ballplayer. They had a young team last year. Their whole team has a lot of experience. They`re very poised. They get up and down the floor very quickly.”
Elsewhere, Bloom Trail (9-1) plays Oak Forest (8-1), and Crete-Monee
(7-2) meets Rich Central (10-1) Monday afternoon in the semifinals of the Rich South tournament. The title game is Monday night.
Top seeded-Rich Central, ranked No. 11 in The Tribune poll, rolled into the semifinals with a 82-56 rout Saturday of Tinley Park. ”That was one of our better defensive efforts of the year,” said Rich Central coach Ron Brauer. ”We`ve been struggling on defense. We`ve had a lot of breakdowns.”
Not on offense. Kendall Gill–who had 27 points Saturday night–Charles Warnell, Bobby Smith and Keith Gill have been scoring plenty.
What concerns Brauer a little is playing twice Monday. ”We don`t have a lot of depth,” Brauer said. ”Playing two games in one day, that could hurt us.”
Crete-Monee`s attack is keyed by Phil Henderson and Leonard Cooper. Cooper had 29 points Friday when the Warriors ripped Watseka 84-63.
”Crete has two excellent guards that can fill the net,” Brauer said.
”We`ll try and stop them as much as we possibly can.”
Brauer joked about his No. 1-seeded Olympians being tied for the cellar in the SICA South with an 0-1 record. ”Here we are 10-1 and we`re in last place in the conference,” said the Rich Central coach, whose team lost to Rich East.
In the other semifinal, second-seeded Oak Forest meets third-seeded Bloom Trail and guard Wilbon Perry.
”I really wouldn`t know who to pick on that one,” Brauer said. He just wants to play the winner.
