Boys Basketball: Lincoln-Way East Bows to Thornton in Regional Final

The Hot Read: Lincoln-Way East stayed with Thornton for much of the first half of Friday night’s Lincoln-Way North Regional title game, thanks largely to the Wildcats shooting just 4-of-16 from the free-throw line. The Wildcats led 30-20 at halftime before going on an 8-0 run midway through the third quarter and taking a 41-30 lead after three quarters. Thornton then pulled away in the final quarter, as Bernard Brame led the team with 12 fourth-quarter points en route to the Wildcats’ 65-47 victory.

Patch MVP: Thornton's Bernard Brame finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and two steals.

Key Stats:  Thornton forced 25 Griffins turnovers, while the Wildcats committed just 12 turnovers. The Wildcats also pulled down 22 rebounds to the Griffins’ 18.

Thornton’s Leaders: In addition to Brame: Brian Greene, Jr. (15 points, 3 steals) and Antonio Levy (13 points, 5 steals).

Lincoln-Way East’s Leaders: Jelani Yancy (12 points, 5 rebounds), Brett Sheehy (10 points, 4 rebounds) and Jaelan Jones  (7 points, 6 rebounds).

Quotable I: Lincoln-Way East coach Rich Kolimas on his team’s performance: "The game was about turnovers. We didn't get a chance to run our halfcourt offense because we kept turning it over. I felt our defense was initially good. Other than fouling, I thought we played pretty well.”

Quotable I: Kolimas on Thornton’s play: “They were scoring off our turnovers. I give them a lot of credit. I thought they passed the ball extremely unselfishly."

Team Records: The Griffins finish the season at 16-12. The Wildcats improve to 25-2.

What's Next: The top-seeded Wildcats will take on Lockport in the first round of the Thornwood Sectional on Tuesday night at 7:30.