Thompson, Young down Dunbar

Updated: March 23, 2011 3:48PM

Bad enough having to face Young in its own regional, but throw in senior night and you knew it would be a bad day for Dunbar as Young prevailed 64-46 Wednesday in a Class 4A regional semifinal.

No. 8 Young initially treated the game like it didn't want to give away any trade secrets to the watchful eyes of the St. Ignatius faithful, trailing after the first two quarters by margins of five points and two points.

But in the third quarter, senior Sam Thompson seemed to say "enough is enough" as he took control. He scored 12 of his game-high 27 points in the period as the Dolphins (18-10) grabbed a 46-35 lead by the end of the quarter.

The Mightymen seemed to lose all their enthusiasm as the Dolphins pulled away.

Thompson, the lone Young player in double figures, also pulled down nine rebounds with three blocks. Kwai Pearson was the next high scorer for Young with seven points.

Young coach Tyrone Slaughter said his team did not come out ready to play. "We were a bit lethargic for the first two quarters, but in the third quarter Sam took it over," Slaughter said. "It wasn't a pretty win, but give them credit as they came out and played hard. We got the victory and we move on."

Thompson said senior night played a big part. "We should have played a lot better, no matter what the distractions were," he said. "This is state playoffs and it's no excuses."

Darvell Harris led Dunbar (6-19) with 13 points and Bill Davis added 10 points.

Coach George Montgomery said his team put up a fight but not for long enough. "We played hard for the first two quarters, but there's four quarters to a basketball game," Montgomery said. "If a team like that allows you to be in a game you have to take every opportunity to make them pay for it and we only did that for a half."

© 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.