DOLTON | In a season which Thornridge got off to a slow start, the Falcons had picked up their game and were looking to make a little postseason run.
Friday, in the Class 3A Thornridge Regional final, the No. 10 seed Falcons got off to a good start and looked like they might pull off an upset of second-seeded Rich South.
But the Falcons made some costly turnovers in the second and third quarters and could not keep the Stars off the boards in falling 67-52.
South was without its top rebounder John Ruffin (back), but managed to control the boards.
"That hurt us because they got a lot of offensive rebounds and putbacks," Thornridge coach Scott Alderson said. "We turned the ball over too many times and when Ryan Burch got his second foul (in the first quarter), that changed our game plan a little."
Burch, who runs the offense, had to sit and finished with two points.
Thornridge (12-15) rode the 3-point shooting of Josh Hodges as he hit three 3s in the first quarter as the Falcons took a 14-10 lead.
"If we could have played a little better, took care of the ball, I think we could have beat them," Hodges said. "They took advantage of our mistakes and it was tough to recover, but we never gave up."
Rich South (22-8) will face Morgan Park on Wednesday in one semifinal of the Rich East Sectional. The Stars limited Thornridge to just 12 first-half shots and forced five second-quarter turnovers. Thornridge took its last lead of the game, 21-20 on a pair of Antonio Woods free throws with 3 minutes, 8 seconds left in the half. Rich South would go on a 10-1 run to take a 30-22 halftime lead.
"We had a tough second quarter," Woods said. "We didn't take care of the ball and didn't get a lot of rebounds. We played hard, but it just wasn't enough."
Woods finished with a team-high 16 points -- including three 3-pointers. Gene Jackson had 13 points and eight rebounds, while Hodges also had 13 points.
Rich South's Ralph Abraham led all scorers with 17 points, while Vernon Young had 13 rebounds.
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