Thornton takes down rival Thornridge

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:42PM

A strong supporting cast is the key to any winning program.

Unbeaten No. 11 Thornton (7-0, 3-0) showed it has plenty of depth during Friday night's 58-46 SouthWest Suburban Red victory over rival Thornridge (4-5, 1-2) in Dolton.

Seniors DeChaun Williams (eight points, seven rebounds), Charles Knowles (seven points, five rebounds) and Dimitrius Hardwick (11 points) came off the bench to give the Wildcats plenty of necessary boosts of energy throughout the game.

"We have great practices," Knowles said. "We're always pushing the starters to get better. That makes us a better team."

For Knowles, an all-area quarterback on the Thornton football team, the victory over Thornridge was extra sweet.

"We owed them one after they beat us in triple overtime during the football season," Knowles said with a big smile. "Thornton-Thornridge is always an emotional game. Tonight, we made sure we didn't let them come back."

Thornton coach Troy Jackson, whose team faces Harlan Saturday afternoon in the Moraine Valley Shootout, wasn't impressed with his squad's sloppy play.

"We didn't adjust well to their zone defense," said Jackson, whose Wildcats let 17-16 after one quarter, 28-21 at halftime and 42-33 entering the fourth quarter.

"We were gambling too much on defense. We forced a lot of turnovers in the first half and should have led by more than seven points.

"But it was good to see those three seniors come off the bench and play like they did. That really helped us."

Thornton, which shot 38 percent from the field (21 of 54), also got 10 points from Brian Greene Jr., nine points and six rebounds from Jeremy Parker, the latter exiting late in the game with a leg injury.

"I think he'll be okay," Jackson said.

Thornridge started fast, making 6 of 8 shots in the first quarter. But in the final 24 minutes, the Falcons were just 12 of 38 (31 percent).

"We played better this week than we did last week, but you can't make the mistakes we made (17 turnovers) and except to beat a great team like Thornton," Thornridge coach Scott Alderson said.

Sinclaire Stevenson came off the bench to lead Thornridge with 23 points and six rebounds.

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