Basketball Recap: Clayton Jones Leads a Balanced Attack to Beat Aurora Central

Thornton hadn't done well against Aurora Central recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. The Thornton Trojans walked away with a 59-50 win over the Aurora Central Trojans. The victory continues a trend for Thornton in their matchups with Aurora Central: they've now won three in a row.

Clayton Jones

Points

02/11/25 @ Aurora Central	18
02/07/25 @ Jefferson Academy	23
02/06/25 @ Gateway	33
01/30/25 vs Adams City	22
01/28/25 @ Skyview	24
+ 15 more games

Thornton's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Clayton Jones, who dropped a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds. The matchup was Jones' 20th in a row with at least 16 points. Another player making a difference was Andrew Danso, who went 7-for-13 to rack up 15 points and five boards.

Thornton was working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Aurora Central only racked up seven assists.

Ual Yonas and Alejandro (Alex) Flores certainly did their best on Tuesday to avoid the loss. Yonas went 7-for-12 on his way to 17 points and four steals, while Flores went 7-for-16 en route to 15 points. The dominant performance also gave Yonas a new career-high in three-point shooting accuracy (60%). Gabou (Ben) Camara was another key player, putting up two points and eight rebounds.

Thornton pushed their record up to 15-5 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.3 points over those games. As for Aurora Central, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 10-10.

Looking ahead, Thornton will look to defend their home court on Thursday against Skyview at 6:30 p.m. Thornton is facing Skyview at the right time seeing as Skyview is stuck on a seven-game losing streak. As for Aurora Central, they will square off against Thomas Jefferson at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Thomas Jefferson knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past six contests -- so hopefully Aurora Central likes a good challenge.