Friday’s SICA East finale between top-ranked Thornton and No. 11 Homewood-Flossmoor wasn’t going to decide the conference championship or determine playoff rankings.
That wasn’t much of an issue for H-F.
“We didn’t look at rankings or anything like that,” said Julian Wright after his 15-point, 12-rebound, four-assist, four-steal performance had helped the Vikings upset the No. 1 Wildcats 59-50 in Flossmoor.
“It was just two good teams, and we treated it like a playoff game.”
Wright, just one of five H-F starters who scored in double figures, scored all but three of his points in the second half. And although the Vikings (22-4, 8-2) led by nine at halftime and by as many as 14 early in the second half, H-F needed all it got from Wright.
Trailing 32-18 with 6 minutes 40 seconds left in the third quarter, Thornton (24-2, 9-1) scored seven straight points to cut the lead to 32-25.
But the Wildcats struggled to get any closer.
The Vikings expanded the lead to 46-34 less than a minute into the final period, but after a steal and layup from Thornton’s Brandon Dagans (11 points) with 3:47 to play capped an 11-2 run, the Wildcats closed to 48-45.
D.J. Posley (11 points) answered for the hosts with a three-pointer, and consecutive baskets by Dominic Baker (11 points) increased the lead to 55-45 with 2:34 left.
The Wildcats still weren’t done, running off five straight points to cut the lead in half with 52.3 seconds left, but Freddie Barnes (13 points) hit a pair of free throws with 33.5 seconds left to finally ice the contest.
“We got a little too amped up at times and had to calm down,” Wright said.
“But that helped us on the defensive end.”
Joevan Catron led Thornton with 15 points.
“We gave up too many easy baskets,” Thornton coach Troy Jackson said.
