In what was supposed to be a tight, heated rivalry game between Thornton Fractional North and South turned into a one-sided affair Friday night in Lansing.
North’s Meteors controlled the game from the opening tip and turned in an easy 56-36 victory in SICA East play.
Even without two injured starters — Christopher Murry (back) and Anthony Garth (ankle) — the Meteors (5-4, 1-1) made life miserable for the overmatched Rebels (7-1, 1-1).
“We didn’t feel we had to prove ourselves tonight; we’ve been [winning] for years now,” North center Marcus Deloney said. “We didn’t want to make history today. We did what we do best — play good defense.”
That history would have been North losing to South for the first time since 2000. But after the Rebels took a 2-0 lead, their only of the game, it was all Meteors. The defense was the key: North held South to four second-quarter points in building a 32-16 halftime lead.
Jeremy Leonard had 16 of his game-high 19 points in the half. Deloney finished with 12 points, Turhon Cora added 10 and Kyle Cain grabbed 11 rebounds. Cain (two steals, one block), Delaney (four blocks) and Kristopher Beaty (five steals) keyed the defensive effort.
“We contained the two players we needed to contain,” Deloney said of stopping the Rebels’ leading scorers, Paris Carter (limited to seven points) and Rajsaun Thompson (nine). “T.F. South didn’t know what to expect because of our record coming in here. We never start out like that.
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“[Coach] Tim [Bankston] looked me right in my eye before the game and told me I must contain Carter, and he said the same to Cain about Thompson.
“And that’s what we did.”