Thornton upends Von Steuben

Reggie Smith might be gone. Thornton has a lot of good players still around.

"We're the kind of program that reloads," senior guard Brian Greene Jr. said. "I played freshman ball my freshman year, sophomore ball and now varsity the last two. We have a lot of weapons, four starters back from last year and we're ready to do some damage."

Bernard Brame scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half and Greene Jr. and Dimitrius Hardwick added 10 points each as the No. 14 Wildcats throttled Von Steuben 68-47 Sunday at the Public League Shootout at Chicago State.

Seven different players scored for the Wildcats (5-0), who bolted out to a 20-8 lead after the first quarter. Greene Jr. scored six in the second quarter, including back to back jump shots during a 7-2 burst that pushed the team's advantage to 38-19 at the break.

"Our attitude and style is to jump out early and get that lead and really dictate tempo and how we like to play," Greene Jr. said.

Brame, a long 6-7 senior, took charge in the third quarter. He scored on a variety of short jumpers and back to the basket moves. He scored his team's final eight points of the third quarter as Thornton led 59-33 after three quarters.

The youthful Panthers (1-2) used a 9-2 fourth quarter run to make the game more respectable. Coach Vince Carter has returned after missing two weeks with pneumonia. Two sophomores, Demetrius Faulkner and Devin Johns, scored 12 points each for the Panthers. Junior forward Arinze Okeke scored all ten of his points in the second half. He added eight rebounds.

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