Thornton shocks top-ranked Bloom

Bloom maintained its top-ranked swagger until the very end. Until just before the buzzer went off and a sold-out crowd in Thornton’s century-old gym roared with delight.

The No. 14 Wildcats don’t have the D-I college recruits or the size or anything close to the amount of hype that No. 1 Bloom enjoys. But after 32 bruising minutes, they had a 61-58 victory Tuesday in Harvey.

DJ Williams was the hero, thanks to a Herculean second effort. The 6-5 senior missed a crucial free throw with 5.2 seconds left. But he managed to get the rebound and was fouled again and drained both free throws to secure the upset.

“The free throw was very needed and I missed it, so I had to go get it,” Williams said. “I made sure I hit the next two.”

Williams was matched up against Bloom jumping jack Christian Shumate. Williams finished with seven points and 17 rebounds. Shumate had 12 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks.

“He blocked like six of my shots,” Williams said. “He gets off the ground fast. It is hard getting used to, you can’t practice against anything like that. It got in my head a little. You just have to stay the course. I’m a football player, I’m tough. That’s all it was. I’m not scared of anyone, we both bleed the same way. He was going to come out, I was going to come out and we would see who is the toughest.’’

Thornton’s Ari Brown (24) playing some ‘in-your-face’ defense against Bloom. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

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Bloom’s Christian Shumate (24) slams the ball for two points against Thornton. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

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Bloom’s Keshawn Williams (0) goes to the basket against Thornton. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

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Bloom’s Dante Maddox, Jr., (21) slams home a shot against Thornton. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

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Bloom’s Dante Maddox, Jr., (21) glides toward the basket for two against Thornton. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

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Thornton’s Demarco Minor lines up a shot from outside the arc against Bloom. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

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Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

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Thornton’s Ari Brown, right, takes the ball to the basket and draws a foul from Bloom’s Emondrek Erkins-Ford. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

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Thornton’s Donald Coates (11) and Brandon Hall (0) celebrate after the Wildcats knock off top-ranked Bloom. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

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Thornton’s Demarco Minor, left, blocks a shot by Bloom’s Dante Maddox, Jr. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

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Thornton’s Brandon Hall (0) sees some space and heads to the basket as Bloom’s Justin Moore (11) defends. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

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Thornton shot just 7-for-35 in the first half but only trailed by five points. The Wildcats took care of the ball, turning it over just eight times in the game, and never were rattled by Bloom’s runs or stylish dunks.

“We haven’t sold out in a long time,” Thornton coach Tai Streets said. “Our kids fed off that and with Bloom coming in, they were jacked up for the game. You knew they were going to make runs, but our guys expected it and settled down and made plays and got stops when they needed stops.”

Ari Brown led the Wildcats (6-0, 3-0 Southland) with 18 points. His three-pointer with 2:10 to play put Thornton ahead for good. Brandon Hall added 13 points and five rebounds and Sean Burress scored 12.

Bloom (7-1, 2-1) was without injured senior Donovan Newby for the third consecutive game. Tulsa recruit Keshawn Williams (11 points, five rebounds) started the game with a face guard but took it off after the first quarter and tried two different bandages. He seemed off, even missing a dunk.

Martice Mitchell, Bloom’s 6-9 Minnesota recruit, battled foul trouble throughout the game. That led to coach Dante Maddox Sr. playing several sophomores major minutes.

“At the end of the game we didn’t stay together,” Maddox Sr. said. “We tried to do things individually, and that is what happens when you don’t have your point guard, your steady player on the floor.”

Dante Maddox Jr. led the Blazing Trojans with 16 points and seven rebounds and

senior Justin Moore added 13 points and seven rebounds.

“This was a really good game for us,” Maddox Sr. said. “It was good in the environment, the competition and the loss. That keeps you humble, keeps you grinding. I’m not discouraged or anything, I know we still have a great team. We’ve had guys who stepped up and guys who didn’t step up, so we were able to learn a lot about ourselves today.”