Thornwood guard Chelby Frazier had been struggling with his shot the past few games.
Those struggles, however, weren’t apparent on Friday night against Lincoln-Way West.
Frazier recorded 21 points, converting 8-for-12 from the floor, to lift Thornwood to a 67-54 SouthWest Suburban Red victory in South Holland.
“I had to raise my shot and put more spin on it,” Frazier said. “I was shooting too many line drives. I also taped my left wrist to keep it stiff. Everything felt good.”
With a conference showdown on Tuesday against arch-rival Thornton looming, the Thunderbirds (13-5, 4-2) had to guard against overlooking the Warriors (13-4, 5-2), who played without leading scorer Jon Marotta (sternum injury).
Thornwood started strong, jumping out to an 11-3 lead. But when 6-foot-10 Kenny Bates went to the bench with two fouls, the Thunderbirds were forced to go with a smaller lineup and West took advantage.
The Warriors cut the deficit to 18-13 after one quarter and eventually grabbed a 31-25 lead on the strength Marco Pettinato and Anthony Marotta, Jon’s younger brother. The duo scored all 18 points for West in the second quarter.
“We let up,” Frazier said. “Coach (Paul Slavich) told us to calm down, keep our composure and fight through it.”
The Thunderbirds heeded their coach’s advice and used an 11-0 run to close out the half and 4-0 spurt to start the third quarter. Just like that, Thornwood led 40-31.
Frazier buried three 3-pointers during the streak and Rodrick Turner (15 points) also was a force, scoring Thornwood’s first seven points of the third quarter.
“We did make a run back at them,” West coach Brian Flaherty said. “Problem was we had to exert so much effort to get back in the game.The fatigue set in but we kept on fighting.”
Thornwood owned a 48-38 lead entering the fourth quarter.
The Warriors, however, chipped away behind Pettinato (17 points) and Craig Majcher. A three-point play by the former and layup by the latter keyed a 7-0 run and brought West within 56-54 with 1:27 left in the fourth.
“I’m proud of how we came back again,” Flaherty said. “We were right there.”
The Thunderbirds answered with an 11-0 run to end the game, highlighted by baskets from Frazier, Kaliph Fagan (14 points) and Abdul Ogunnaike.
Trace Howard added 10 points for West, which shot 18-for-36, compared to 28-for-50 by Thornwood.
“Chelby hit some big shots,” Slavich said. “He worked on his shot and he got his confidence back. Lincoln-Way West made a couple of nice runs. They’re a good team. Now we have to get ready for Thornton.”
