Thornton gets first conference win over rival Horizon, 58-50. (1/23/09)

BY MARTY CESARIO

Eddie. He asked. So we arrived. Then he delivered.

It's not uncommon for our staff to receive requests for coverage of sporting events. We follow through on some, but for many reasons we will never be able to honor all invitations. We couldn't ignore EDUARDO MACIAS, though. The Thornton senior worked us with all the right angles: we'd never been to THS; a North metro school with lengthy heritage deserved some love; they just just laid down 29,000 square feet of fresh hardwood; their hoops program was on the rise... (This guy's gonna end up fundraising for a future presidential campaign.)

Thanks, Eddie. We had a great time. The gym floor and that sweet scoreboard above center circle looked cool on camera. Coach GALEN HARKNESS and Athletic Director BRIAN DUWE were extremely hospitable. The in-game atmosphere was awesome. Rarely, have we seen a student body line up along a court to boost their squad... for all four quarters. Oh. You and your Trojans weren't too bad either. Although you did have to work for this win.

Horizon coach, DAVE LAWRENCE, admitted his team couldn't offer much. "We're young, we're not big, we're not deep." Plus, their top scorer was suspended. Not good for a squad with one victory in 12 games. Don't pity the Hawks, though. They still have plenty of heart and desire-- especially junior COLE WALICZEK. 4-5 came to play.

Waliczek and JORDAN EGGESTEIN helped the Hawks jump ahead early in this run with slow and patient offensive sets capped off by smart shots from the perimeter while the Horizon defense disrupted Thornton from getting any rhythm established. A big key on that D was Waliczek's pestering of Trojans' star CALEB BRADFIELD-- who was much bigger but was denied much opportunity to even touch the basketball. Hawks led 12-9 after the first quarter. Then came Eddie to ignite his offense and the entire gym.

Macias didn't start. But when he finally stepped on the floor, he owned it. The Trojans point man immediately picked up the tempo, pushed the break, and penetrated that stingy Hawks defense. That energy opened space for Bradfield to become involved and indirectly elevated the play of other Thornton teammates. MIKE MIYAKE and GARRETT CORDOVA began attacking Horizon guards. The Hawks lost some of that offensive patience and when their shooting became less accurate, Bradfield and Trojans' senior DYRELL TORREYstarted to rule the defensive boards and hit the outlets on the wings. The Trojans outscored the visitors 21-7 in a 2nd quarter polished off by a 3-pointer at the buzzer by RYAN TCHENG.

Those Hawks. They didn't pout. Down 11 coming out of the locker room, Horizon kept battling on defense and found some new success on the other end via post positioning and inside lay-ups by junior MATT LLOYD . The Hawks regained control. They reestablished the "slow." And their defense held Thornton to a mere 4 points, all on free throws, in the 3rd quarter. Eggestein sank his own buzzer-beater to end that frame to pull the Hawks within one and with another make to open the final quarter, Horizon was on top again. For a moment. In the end, they just didn't have enough juice in the tank to keep up with the Trojans. The final seven minutes were dominated by the speed and endurance of the guard platoon of Thornton who "ran" through the final horn with a win.

A pretty special night for Eddie Macias. Got his team on the tube. Led them to victory. Even earned Skate City Player-of-the-Game. And collectively, the whole Thornton High community should be very pleased with their performance. Again, we had a great time.

Final: TT 58 - HH 50... TT (6-7) Macias 15, Bradfield 15, Tcheng 13... HH (1-12) Waliczek 14, Eggestein 14.