Dakari Nesbitt of Thornton Township (Harvey) wins round 1 of freshman battle with Keiwon Gulley and Kaden McClellan of Bloom Township, plus top performances in the state tonight!!!

It was a choppy, bumpy game especially in the third quarter but a fourth quarter comeback and a couple of unsuccessful threes in last few seconds help Thornton Township (Harvey) hold onto the win. Dunlap wins in double overtime at Metamora snaps their 50 game home winning streak. Here we go;

Thornton Township (Harvey) 50 Bloom Township (Chicago Heights) 47:

Battle of two old rivals in the Southland Athletic Conference was a lot of back, and forth, turnovers which is expected of two young teams. Tale of three parts as Thornton owned the first half, Bloom owned the third quarter by going to a 3/4 court press that cause turnovers to give them a 16-5 edge in the quarter. Bloom led 38-33 at end of the quarter. Thornton Township staged a fourth quarter comeback causing turnovers and a three by junior Kobe Stevenson and then senior Manuel Padilla to give them the lead. Thornton took two key charging fouls up 1 late in the fourth quarter from Gulley, then McClellan. McClellan fouls out trying to stop the clock with 32.7 seconds left. Bloom coaches thought it was only his fourth foul, but scorekeepers at Thornton were correct, it was his fifth. Junior Jeremy Blanco-Rios struggled from the line was 1/6 from the free throw line before hitting two key ones with 15 seconds left. Bloom came down and missed a shot and fouled Stevenson with 10.6 seconds left and a 50-47 lead. He missed both, Bloom came down and Gulley missed a three, Meechie Boswell got the rebound missed a three, Gulley got the rebound, dribbled out to the three point line, got off a shot at the buzzer and missed, Gulley struggled with only 6 points (2/8 FG, 2/3 FT).

Thornton Township (Harvey) ups it's record to 7-8, 4-2 in Southland, while Bloom Township (Chicago Heights) drops to 10-8, 3-3 in Southland. First of many more matchups for the big time freshman on both teams.

Top performers:

Thornton Township (Harvey):

Freshman Dakari Nesbitt 19 points (7/16 FG, 3/10 three, 2/3 FT) 5 rebounds 4 steals 1 block

Junior Kobe Stevenson 17 points (6/13 FG, 1/5 three, 4/7 FT) 4 assists

Bloom Township (Chicago Heights):

Freshman Kaden McClellan 14 points (5/6 FG, 4/4 FT) 4 rebounds 1 block

Senior Troy Garner 14 points 5 rebounds 2 steals 1 block

Top performances in state:

Josh Abushanab, Glenbard West (Glen Ellyn) 23 points

Travis Brown Jr, West Aurora 20 points (junior)

Joseph Lubbe, York Township (Elmhurst) 18 points (junior)

Chris Mobley, Hoffman Estates 22 points 7 rebounds

Brian Kizer, Leo Catholic (Chicago) 22 points (junior)

Jacobi Walls, Hyde Park Academy (Chicago) 11 rebounds

KJ Miller, East (Plainfield) 26 points 5 rebounds 3 steals 2 blocks (junior)

Seargeant Williams, Kennedy (Chicago) 23 points 6 rebounds

Alex Panos, Lincoln Way Central (New Lenox) 15 points

Nick Brzezniak, Lincoln Way Central (New Lexox) 15 points

Markese Peoples, St Laurence (Burbank) 18 points (junior)

Ben Ojala, Evanston Township 22 points (sophomore)

Duke Ross, St Ignatius College Prep (Chicago) 17 points (junior)

Michael Nee, Glenbard East (Lombard) 22 points (South Dakota commit)

Maddox Ritzel, Nashville 24 points 7 rebounds

Palmer Renken, Nashville 20 points (career high) (junior)

Marcus Johnson, Sycamore 23 points (scored his 1000th point tonight)

Isaiah Feuerbach, Sycamore 15 points

Ryan Morgan, South (Crystal Lake) 22 points 8 rebounds (sophomore)

Carson Trivilleni, South (Crystal Lake) 22 points 5 assists 4 steals (junior) (Illinois baseball commit)

Noah Cook, South (Crystal Lake) 15 points 7 rebounds (junior)

Justin Freeman, Andrew (Tinley Park) 18 points (junior)

Alex Granville, Central (Grayslake) 17 points

Cole Halverson, Central (Grayslake) 15 points

Jeremy Zamost, Vernon Hills 15 points

Asani Nixon, Niles West (Skokie) 15 points

Jackson Bohm, Mahomet Seymour 26 points

Panayiotis Sotos, Maine South (Park Ridge) 28 points

Max Vogel, New Trier (Winnetka) 19 points (junior)

Ben Delberto, Oak Lawn 25 points (7/8 three) (sophomore)

D Carter, Porta AC 20 points

C Hoke, Porta AC 14 points 12 rebounds (double/double)

Brady Pettigrew, Bolingbrook 33 points (sophomore)

Drake Been, Lincoln Way West (New Lenox) 21 points (7 threes)

Aidan Bach, Lincoln Way West (New Lenox) 15 points

Dawson Charles, St Viator (Arlington Heights) 33 points (junior)

Jacob Only, St Viator (Arlington Heights) 20 points (sophomore)

Donavyn Simmons, Catholic Academy (Joliet) 22 points (junior)

Jayde Wyett, Providence Catholic (New Lenox) 17 points (sophomore)

Jonathan Hadley, Glenbard South (Glen Ellyn) 16 points (junior)

Nigel Moore, Peoria 19 points 6 rebounds 8 assists (sophomore)

Jacob "JJ" Duffin Peoria 19 points (9/9 FG) 13 rebounds (double/double) (sophomore)

Fenix Fenoy, Peoria 16 points

Dakylen "DK" Heard, Mount Carmel (Chicago) 10 points 10 rebounds (double/double) (freshman)

Cameron Johnson, U-High (Normal) 17 points

Devin Fitzgerald, U-High (Normal) 17 points

Rian Hahn-Clifton, Woodstock 17 points )(sophomore)

Oliver Munoz, Mendota 16 points

Crowe, Kewanee 21 points

Logan Kurtz, Tuscola 16 points

Adam Anwar, McHenry 17 points 8 rebounds

Khaleel Khan, Elk Grove 17 points

Nolan B, Elk Grove 15 points

Elisha Dahe, Providence St Mel (Chicago) 28 points 15 rebounds (double/double) (sophomore)

Victor Norris, Providence St Mel (Chicago) 16 points 4 steals (junior)

Charles "Chuck" Barnes, Marist (Chicago) 28 points

B Campbell, Manteno 24 points

Simereon Carter, Waukegan 20 points

Jaali "Rico" Love, Waukegan 18 points

Billy Arnold, Northridge Prep (Niles) 16 points

Cooper Melican, North (St Charles) 29 points

Jake Love, North (St Charles) 19 points

Ethan Matz, Carmel Catholic (Mundelein) 15 points (scored his 1000th point tonight)

Nedas Venckus, Lockport Township 25 points (junior)

Nojus Venckus, Lockport Township 20 points (5 threes) (junior)

Nathan Munson, Lockport Township 12 assists 6 rebounds (junior)

Braydon Porter, Yorkville 26 points (sophomore)

Noah Therapos, Hinsdale South (Darien) 15 points

Micah Griffo, Mascoutah 21 points (junior)

Lucas Thompson, Triad (Troy) 11 points 10 rebounds (double/double)

Ryan Veronda, Sherrard 24 points (8 threes)

Brady McPeek, Mercer County 19 points

Braden Coplan, West Prairie (Sciota) 25 points (1470 points and counting

George Gray, Oak Park River Forest 21 points 9 rebounds

Trent Williams, Oak Park River Forest 19 points

Jace Wilkinson, Collinsville 20 points