Brame's efforts lift Thornton

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:40PM

The best thing about December basketball is the immediate chance to atone for an unsatisfactory performance.

Bernard Brame made Harlan pay Saturday afternoon at the Moraine Valley Shootout. The 6-7 Thornton senior center had 15 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots to power the No. 11 Wildcats coasted past the Falcons 52-38.

"I didn't have a good game last night [against Thornridge], and I wanted to come out and show I was a much better player today," Brame said. He scored his team's opening 10 points of the third quarter on a variety of power moves and strong post actions around the basket.

His strong play propelled the Wildcats (8-0) to a 40-22 advantage after three quarters.

He was also a strong defensive presence at the rim in blocking multiple shots. "I didn't want them to think they could just drive to the basket. I didn't want to give them anything easy," he said. Harlan (4-5) managed just five baskets in the first half.

Thornton senior guard Brian Greene Jr. scored all 10 of his points in the first half in staking the Wildcats to a 26-12 lead at the break. "It was important to come out and play with a lot of energy at the start," Greene Jr. said.

"We looked at this as a rivalry game because we had two good games with Harlan during the summer, and we knew they were going to come out pumped up and ready to play."

Harlan 6-7 senior star Shaquille Hines scored a game-high 19 points and added seven rebounds. Hines scored nine of his total in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats contained him through three quarters. "Charles Knowles and some of other guys did an excellent job of fronting Hines and denying him the ball," Greene said.

Senior guard Jay Parker scored eight oh his 11 points in the fourth quarter for the Wildcats.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.