Basketball Game Preview: Thornton Wildcats vs. Crete-Monee Warriors

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Previous Games

02/23/24 - Neutral	60-35 W
02/13/24 - Home	58-38 W
01/19/24 - Away	52-37 W
02/14/23 - Away	80-60 W
01/13/23 - Home	51-40 W
+ 5 more games

Thornton has gone 10-0 against Crete-Monee recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Tuesday. The Thornton Wildcats will head out to challenge the Crete-Monee Warriors at 6:00 p.m.

Thornton is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Homewood-Flossmoor on Saturday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Thornton was dealt a 74-46 loss at the hands of Homewood-Flossmoor. The defeat continues a trend for the Wildcats in their matchups with the Vikings: they've now lost four in a row.

Despite the loss, Thornton saw an underclassman step up: freshman Deandre Higgs went 6 for 13 on his way to 16 points and eight rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Jeremy Blanco-Rios, who posted ten points.

Meanwhile, Crete-Monee was able to grind out a solid victory over Simeon on Sunday, taking the game 48-41. The win was all the more spectacular given the Warriors' disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 134th, while the Wolverines are ranked 29th).

Crete-Monee is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-6 record this season. As for Thornton, their defeat ended an eight-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 5-9.

Everything went Thornton's way against Crete-Monee in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, as Thornton made off with a 60-35 victory. Will Thornton repeat their success, or does Crete-Monee have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.