Basketball Game Preview: Kankakee Kays vs. Thornwood Thunderbirds

The Kankakee Kays will venture away from home to take on the Thornwood Thunderbirds at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Thornwood took a loss in their last contest and will be looking to turn the tables on Kankakee, who comes in off a win.

Kankakee will head into Monday's matchup on the come-up: they were handed a 21-point loss in their previous outing, but that didn't affect their clutch gene on Monday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 58-55 victory over Bloom. The score was all tied up 22-22 at the break, but the Kays were the better team in the second half.

Meanwhile, Thornwood was not able to break out of their rough patch on Monday as the team picked up their 15th straight defeat dating back to last season. They had to suffer through a 59-25 loss at the hands of Rich Township. While losing is never fun, the Thunderbirds can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 521st, while the Raptors are ranked 225th).

Kankakee's win bumped their record up to 7-2. As for Thornwood, their loss dropped their record down to 0-10.

Everything came up roses for Kankakee against Thornwood when the teams last played back in January, as the squad secured a 57-18 victory. In that game, Kankakee amassed a halftime lead of 35-10, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Thursday.