Bloom and Thornton are an even 5-5 against one another since December of 2019, but not for long. The Bloom Blazing Trojan will be playing in front of their home fans against the Thornton Wildcats at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Bloom will be looking to extend their current three-game winning streak.
Last Tuesday, Bloom was fully in charge, breezing past Thornridge 89-51. The Blazing Trojan have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven matches by 23 points or more this season.
| 01/14/25 vs Thornridge | 6 |
| 01/04/25 vs Gary West Side | 5 |
| 11/26/24 vs Thornton Fractional South | 5 |
| 12/28/24 vs Manual | 3 |
| 12/26/24 vs West Aurora | 3 |
Bloom can attribute much of their success to Joe Jones, who posted six points and six rebounds. The dominant performance gave Jones a new career-high in boards.
Meanwhile, Thornton was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Tuesday as they fell 47-41 to Crete-Monee. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 312th, while the Warriors are ranked 97th).
Bloom will have to keep a close watch on Jeremy Blanco-Rios and Deandre Higgs, a pair of players who had a big impact on Thornton's prior game. Blanco-Rios scored 12 points and five assists, while Higgs went 7 for 14 en route to 16 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Greg Fourte, who put up five points and five rebounds.
Bloom pushed their record up to 12-5 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 78.0 points per game. As for Thornton, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 5-10.
Keep an eye on the arc in Friday's game: Bloom has been dynamite from deep this season, having made 85.7% of their three-pointers per game. It's a different story for Thornton, though, as they've only made 26.2% of their three-pointers this season. Given Bloom's sizable advantage in that area, Thornton will need to find a way to close that gap.
Bloom lost to Thornton at home by a decisive 69-52 margin in their previous matchup back in January of 2024. Thankfully for Bloom, Morez Johnson Jr. (who dropped a double-double on 21 points and 12 boards) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
