Boys Basketball: Tinley Park Falls Short Against T.F. North

The Hot Read: Tinley Park only trailed 41-37 midway through the fourth quarter but its next five possessions included three missed shots and two turnovers. Codero Rudder finally ended the lengthy scoreless stretch with a three-pointer with 2 minutes 35 seconds remaining to pull the Titans to within 46-40 but they wouldn't cut into the deficit any further.

Patch's MVP: T.F. North's Montero Rice had missed the last three games for the Meteors but he appeared far from rusty, coming off the bench to score a game-high 20 points. Rice made 10 of 11 free throws.

Key stats: Three strikes and you're out might be a baseball analogy, but what about the following three stats. T.F. North outrebounded Tinley Park, 32-20. Tinley Park committed 11 more turnovers than T.F. North, 16-5. The Titans shot 70 percent from the free throw line but only attempted 10 free throws. The Meteors went 18 of 31 from the charity stripe.

 T.F. North leaders: Sylvester Tolliver (12 points, 10 rebounds), Montero Rice (20 points, six rebounds), Deandre Lowery (nine points, five rebounds).

Tinley Park leaders: Andrew Sebastian (10 points), Cordero Rudder (10 points, three rebounds), Tony Core (seven points, four rebounds), Steven White (seven points, four rebounds).

Quoteable I: T.F. North coach Tim Bankston on Tinley Park: "They're a good team and well coached. I think they might surprise some people in the playoffs."

Quoteable II: Bankston on taking the air out of the ball at times in the second half: "We had six fouls on the board and we're a little thin with the bigs. It's just strategy and it's a chess match. Why take the chance of someone picking up another foul?"

Quoteable III: Tinley Park coach D.J. Brown on coming up short: "We've been in a lot of close ballgames. We play 30 minutes of basketball and just can't seem to finish it out. We'll need to do a 180 come March."

Quoteable IV: Tinley Park senior point guard Andrew Sebastian on starting anew next week: "Anything can happen in March. Everyone tells you that. It's all preparation for March in the regular season and we'll go in next week playing like it's our last game every time because it could be."

Team records: Tinley Park 14-9, 9-4 in South Suburban Blue; T.F. North: 16-3, 12-1.

What's next: Tinley Park faces Rich East at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Class 3A Rich East Regional play. T.F. North awaits the winner of Illiana Christian/Chicago Longwood, which it will play at 8:10 p.m. Wednesday in the Class 3A T.F. North Regional.