In the battle to keep pace with Homewood-Flossmoor at the top of the SICA East, Thornwood and Bloom needed three overtimes Friday to decide which team would do just that.
A free throw by Thornwood’s Andre Muse with two seconds remaining in the third overtime and the score tied lifted the Thunderbirds to a 39-38 victory.
“After I missed the first one, I wasn’t worried about it,” Muse said. “I practiced my free throws a lot this week because I missed four in our last game. I just had to calm down and act like I was shooting them in practice.”
Muse, whose free throw was the only point of the period, finished with 10 points while Brandon Williams added 11 for the Thunderbirds (11-7, 5-1), who meet H-F on Friday.
Cordell Liggins forced the first OT by hitting a three-pointer with :02 left for a 34-34 tie.
From there, the Trojans (15-7, 4-2) won the tip and ran the clock down to :10 but missed badly on a three-point attempt. The Trojans, who got 13 points from Jonathan Austin, used that delay strategy in all three overtimes.
