Sports
Boys Basketball: Stagg Shocks Fifth-Ranked Thornton
Stagg 58, Thornton 53. Seniors Darius Draper and Dan Ahern score in double figures as Chargers bring down the house with a thrilling home-court victory.
The Hot Read: Feeding off the frenzied emotion of a big crowd, the Stagg boys basketball team stunned fifth-ranked Thorton in a 58-53 victory on Friday night that was fueled by the play of Darius Draper and Dan Ahern. After both teams started out cold, the Chargers used a 7-0 run to builed a 19-10 first-quarter lead. Thornton drew even at 29-29 at halftime as Bernard Brame scored 10 points and the Wildcats slapped on a 2-2-1 trap defense to rattle Stagg.
The game see-sawed back and forth and Thornton led 45-43 after three quarters. Draper sparked the Chargers in the fourth with his clutch defensive rebounding. And Ahern connected on three three-point shots. His threes led to a 9-4 scoring run for the Chargers and a 56-53 lead. Draper came up with a steal on a huge defensive stop. His pass led to junior Brett Kaiser's layup at the buzzer.
Patch's MVP: Stagg senior Darius Draper, who notched a double-double (19 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks).
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Key Stats: Thornton made 5-of-19 shots in the first quarter, but revived its offense. Stagg made 8-of-22 from behind the three-point arc, while Thornton was 4-of-15. Stagg went 9-of-11 from the free throw line. Thornton was 3-of-4.
Stagg Leaders: Senior Dan Ahern (16 points), sophomore Sean Dwyer (11 points).
Thornton Leaders: Seniors Bernard Brame (12 points and 10 rebounds), Antonio Levy (11 points) and Jeremy Parker (seven points and five assists).
Quotable I: "We won this game with defense and big shots," Stagg coach John Daniels said. "We played tough at (Thornton's) place earlier this year (when Stagg lost). We understood what we had to do. We had problems early with the 2-2-1 trap in the first attacks, but in the second half we had more gap attacks."
Quotable II: "We expected a hostile environment," Thornton coach Troy Jackson said. "We did dumb things in the game, made dumb passes and we missed dunks. We fizzeled at times, but we need to regroup in practice. We need to be disciplined and we need to execute."
Team Records: Stagg 17-5, 8-3 Southwest Suburban Red. Thornton 19-2, 10-1.
What's Next: Stagg plays Lemont on Tuesday, while Thornton takes on Bloom.
Sophomore Score: Thornton 56, Stagg 43.
