Thornton defense steps up in second half to beat Campbell in Chick-fil-A basketball tourney

NASHUA – The Thornton Academy boys basketball team made one big halftime adjustment Friday against Campbell, and it made quite a difference.

The Trojans started playing defense in the second half, holding the Cougars to just eight points on the way to a 51-40 victory in the second game of the Chick-fil-A Holiday Tournament at Nashua High School South.

Thornton forced nine turnovers in the third quarter, opened the half with an 11-3 run and held Campbell scoreless for nearly eight minutes to advance to the tournament semifinals. The Trojans will take on Hollis Brookline at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at South, with the winner moving on to the championship game Saturday evening.

“We just needed to play defense,” Thornton coach Robert Davies said. “We played zero defense in the first half. The adjustment was just playing (defense). We didn’t contest any shots in the first half. In the second half, everything was contested and we were active. Our feet were moving, our hands were active.”

Jeff Gelinas led the way for the Trojans, scoring 17 points, while Adam Ek added 10 of his 14 points in the second half. Campbell got 16 points from Jacob Morgan while Max Gouveia added nine points and Jackson Musco had eight, all of which came in the second quarter.

“Two halves, two teams,” Campbell coach John Langlois said. “Obviously, we played a great first half. The second half, we had turnovers, we had defensive breakdowns. Anything that could go wrong went wrong for us. They played better defense in the second half.”

After trailing for most of the first quarter, Campbell took the lead late in the opening frame and carried it over to the second. The Cougars went on a 9-0 run to take a 17-12 lead early in the second quarter, but Thornton came back to tie the game 20-20 with 5:08 to play.

But after a 3-pointer by Thornton’s Evan Wright tied the game, Nicholas Freson hit a jumper to start Campbell on a 12-5 run to close out the half that put the Cougars 32-25.

“I think the first half, we didn’t do much,” Davies said. “We let them dictate the tempo on both ends of the court. They controlled everything. The second half, we went out and played our basketball.”

Thornton needed less than half a quarter to come back and take the lead, this time for good. It was still a one-point game with Campbell’s Jesiah Wade hit a layup with 2:46 left in the third, but then the Cougars’ offense hit a dry spell.

The Trojans went on an 11-0 run that lasted until Jason Rodonis hit the second of two free throws with 2:47 remaining in the game. That made it a 49-38 lead for Thornton.

“I was surprised by our breakdown,” Langlois said. “We’ve got to stay mentally tough when things don’t go our way and we’ve got to learn from this. We will.”

Campbell will face Nashua North in a consolation game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at South.