Senior Kavon Ammons helps Rich hold off Thornwood's talented sophomore guards

Last season's trip to the state finals in Champaign made an impact on Rich’s Kavon Ammons. The Raptors lost to Warren in the Class 4A semifinals and then dropped a close one to Evanston in the third-place game.

“The experience was amazing,” Ammons said. “Just seeing what it takes, the small things to win. Everything about defense, 50/50 balls. The small parts of basketball. That trip downstate taught me all of that.”

Ammons is a senior now and leading a brand-new group at Rich.

“We don’t have the talent we had last year but collectively we are a pretty good team,” Raptors coach Lou Adams said. “I like where we are at and the way they play. They like each other and play hard. That’s all we can ask for.”

Rich dominated the first few minutes against Thornwood on Thursday in Richton Park and went on to win 55-43.

“Toughness,” Thunderbirds coach Deoplus Williams said. “We weren’t mentally prepared. We had a lot going on but no excuses. They were tougher than us and got into us early. We started making it about the referees and everything that doesn’t have to do with the game. They outperformed us.”

Junior Amari Winters scored seven on his game-high 15 points in the first six minutes as the Raptors (5-2, 2-0 Southland) jumped out to a 17-5 lead.

Thornwood (9-2, 1-2) chipped away at the deficit for the rest of the game and cut it to seven on Damiano Jenkins’ free throw with 7:32 left, but the Rich slowed things down and kept control of the game from then on.

“We are just playing really hard,” Winters said. “Our coaches are amazing. [Adams] says you have be friends to play basketball. We are working together. I play off my teammates. That is how I get buckets.”

Ammons finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. The Raptors played 12 guys in the first quarter and nine scored.

“It was hard for us to get back into it,” Williams said. “We are young and can’t get down on certain teams. They are still a championship program. They went downstate and the culture is still there. We are trying to build up our culture.”

Thornwood is one of the surprise teams of the season. The Thunderbirds opened with seven consecutive wins, many against well-established programs.

Sophomore guards Mekhi Young (11 points) and Lester Watson (eight points) have led the Thunderbirds’ resurgence. Senior guard Jordan Jones had 12 points and nine rebounds against the Raptors.

“[Young] is unbelievable,” Adams said. “We were able to speed him up a little bit and bump him a little bit and get him off balance but he’s really good.”

Williams expected Young to make a major jump this season.

“He had a good off season with AAU ball,” Williams said. “He’s been playing really well and he’s been confident. Everyone else raised their level to reach his. He’s used to having the ball in his hand and being that type of guy. They started matching his energy in practice and we got better as a team because of how he was playing.”

But Ammons wasn’t about to let Thornwood’s talented young guards beat him on Thursday.

“I know Mekhi and Lester,” Ammons said. “I’m a senior and they are sophomores. I’m not about to let them have a game or go off on me. I can’t let that happen.”