Despite a heroic fourth-quarter effort from Thornton Fractional North senior Jeremy Leonard on Friday night, visiting Thornton was still able to hold on for a 68-67 victory in a packed gym in Calumet City.
What started out as a dull SICA East opener for both teams turned into a thrilling contest that had fans from both sides standing up for the final three minutes of the game.
That’s when Leonard, who got a verbal lashing from coach Tim Bankston during a timeout in the third quarter, began scoring at will. With his team trailing 57-48 midway through the final quarter, Leonard scored 17 of his 22 points the rest of the way.
He pulled the Meteors (1-3, 0-1) within 59-57 with 3 minutes 3 seconds left on a three-pointer, then accounted for the final score with a three at the buzzer. But free throws by Reginald Smith (22 points) and Jamal Gray (17) in the final minute helped the Wildcats (3-1, 1-0) to the triumph.
“[Leonard] is a good player and he kept going around the screens and hitting the short jumpers,” said Smith.
The key play of the game came with 11 seconds left when Gray missed two free throws with Thornton up 65-62. But after the second miss, with the rest of his teammates heading to the other end of the court, he snuck in between four Meteors, grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made both free throws.
“I told myself if I miss this I had to get the rebound so I can shoot again,” Gray said. “I didn’t want to let my team down again. They didn’t box out so that paid off for me.”
Junior Richie Thompson added 13 points for the Wildcats, who never trailed. Senior Anthony Garth, a transfer from Thornton, had 10 points for the Meteors.
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