Boys Basketball: TF South Surges Past Lemont

The Hot Read: Both Thornton Fractional South and Lemont ran into scoring problems in the early going on Thursday night's boys basketball matchup. But, after a 5-2 first quarter, the Rebels heated up on their way to a 45-29 victory.

TF South employed a 2-3 zone defense to cause problems in the first half for Lemont. The Indians suffered through an eight-minute scoring drought.

Lemont went 2-for-11 in the first half from beyond the three-point arc. The Rebels used a 12-0 scoring run to open a 25-13 lead at half. The Rebels never looked back. In fact, they stretched their lead to 20 points at one point, thanks to the play of Michael Lee, who finished with 12 points.

Lemont coughed up the ball 24 on turnovers. The Indians' leading scorer, Evan Bridwell (11 points), got into foul trouble early and fouled out midway through the fourth quarter. Lemont managed to string together 11-4 and 6-0 scoring runs, but the deficit was too great for the Indians to overcome.

Patch's MVP: TF South senior Michael Lee (12 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals).

Key Stats: Lem0nt committed 24 turnovers and shot 3-of-19 from the three point arc. The Indians outrebounded TF South 26-19, but couldn't get past their turnover struggles. Lemont juniors Matt Lipowski and Paulus Otruskevicius both were cleared to play in the loss to the Rebels.

TF North Leaders: Senior DeAndre Thurman (10 points, 3 steals), junior Jermaine Green (6 points) and Ira Crawford (6 rebounds and 3 blocks).

Lemont Leaders: Senior Evan Bridwell (11 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals), junior Mark Lipowski (8 points and 11 rebounds).

Quotable: "We're used to playing on Friday, half of the kids are sick and we had over an hour drive (to Lemont)," TF South coach John O'Rourke said. "We talked about how it was going to be hard to have energy in this game. The second team brought us some life out there. It's been an emotional roller coaster ride all season. One day the kids will be playing great, the next day someone tells us that Christmas doesn't exist. This is good motivation going on, getting back-to-back wins.

Team Records: Lemont, 8-15, 3-8 in South Suburban Blue, TF South, 9-14, 6-5.

What's Next: Lemont travels to Stagg, while TF South plays host to Hillcrest.

Sophomore Score: Lemont 59, TF South 47. Lemont's Joey Hehir scored 20 points.