By Tyler F. Thompson (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It was a game of firsts for the Aurora Houn’ Dawgs (4-3) as they defeated the Willow Springs Bears, 88-80, to open up play in the Blue Division Thursday morning at the 79th annual Blue and Gold Tournament.
This marks the most points in a Blue Division game since Rogersville and Mountain Grove took the hardwood in 1994 – tying the all-time Blue Division record.
It is also the first opening-round win for Aurora since 2015.
And to cap it off, junior sharpshooter Cannon Thornhill tied the tournament record for most 3-pointers in a game (9). He connected for five in the first 16 minutes.
“It was an awesome experience,” Thornhill said of the opening-round win. “I am blessed with my teammates. First time to win the first one at the Blue and Gold [in nine years]. It was a great game.”
Once his first shot from beyond the arc went through, Thornhill said he was in that proverbial zone.
“A 9:30 game. Most people are going to come sluggish and tired, [but] my mind was to come in and give it all I have,” Thornhill said.
To open up play and throughout the tilt, Aurora sped up the Bears with their full-court press — dictating the tempo.
And the Dawgs seized the moment.
“It is something that we … we always feel like the aggressor has the advantage in everything in life,” head coach Adam Thornhill said. “We typically want to be the aggressors, but we are selective in when we want to do that. But we felt like at 9:30 in the morning, one team may come out a little bit more flat, and the other team may be more aggressive. We wanted to, if nothing else, trick our guys into thinking that we were going to catch them off guard at 9:30. And it did a little bit.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Thornhill, in typical father fashion, appreciated the performance by his son, but added that another element resonated.
“I was mad because he didn’t rebound on the defensive end,” Thornhill said. “Somebody just told me that he [tied] the record. I was mad at the one 3 he took there at the end, wondering, what he was thinking? But as a coach, I am always like, ‘Let’s get better.’ As dad, I am really proud of him.”
Cannon Thornhill finished with 42 points, which is tied for the ninth-most in a single game in Blue & Gold history.
Defense was relatively absent for both teams, as the Houn’ Dawgs soared to the 26-24 lead at the end of the first quarter.
By halftime, Willow Springs had the five-point lead, 50-45. It was anyone’s game.
“We had to get better. We gave up 50 points in the first half,” Coach Thornhill said. “We had to do some things differently.”
One of those factors being a matchup defensive attack.
“We went junk defense against that guy [sophomore Kolby James],” Thornhill said with a grin as James walked by.
James finished with 23 points.
In the third, the back-and-forth affair continued as the Aurora defense tightened its grip, forcing an early turnover as Thornhill scored in transition.
But the Bears reciprocated, forcing two Aurora turnovers.
Again, the Bears would not relent, closing the gap from 62-55 to 68-67 with one quarter to go.
But the Dawgs authored the 20-13 run to close out the game.
“The whole thing with offense is to find rhythm, so defensively, we wanted to take them out of rhythm,” Coach Thornhill said. “Just a small adjustment. Our guys played really hard. Thomas [Lara] guarded Jace [Rodgers] and Cannon guarded Kolby. And that was it. We just locked down those guys. Defensively, that was the difference in the second half.”
Aurora now faces the top draw in Kickapoo at 5 p.m. tomorrow at GSB Arena.
Aurora 88, Willow Springs 80
Aurora – 26-19-23-20 — 88
Willow Springs – 24-26-17-13 — 80
A: Cannon Thornhill 42, Landon Boatwright 10, Thomas Lara 10, Cameron Whitener 9, Jayden Carpenter 7, Toa Yandall 6, Kaden Cole 4
W: Jace Rodgers 27, Kolby James 23, Brady James 12, James Dean 7, Caden Lee 4, Blayne Altermatt 3, Brody Thompson 2, Brady Altermatt 2
