The Lyons Township High School boys basketball team clinched second place in the West Suburban Conference’s Silver Division by beating rival Hinsdale Central 60-53 at home on Feb. 11 and prevailing the next night at Proviso West 65-56.
In league play, LTHS (22-5, 9-3 in Silver) only lost twice to top-rated champion Glenbard West (28-1, 11-0) and split with third-place Oak Park and River Forest (14-10, 7-4).
LTHS senior Tavari Johnson had 24 points, six assists and five rebounds against Hinsdale Central. Other contributors included Nik Polonowski (16 points), Billy Bach (9 points, 7 rebounds) and Aidan Sullivan (5 rebounds).
Johnson (20 points, 7 assists) also reached the 20-point mark against Proviso West. Polonowski (6 rebounds) added 10 points and Will Carroll and Graham Smith each had eight.
Niklas Polonowski scores during Lane Tech’s victory over Hinsdale on Friday, February 11 in LaGrange. (Shanel Romain) 
Lyons Township defeated the Hinsdale Devils 60-53 on Friday, February 11 in LaGrange. (Shanel Romain) 
Hinsdale’s small forward Ben Oosterbahn looks to steal the ball from Lyons Township’s Niklas Polonowski on Friday, February 11 in LaGrange. (Shanel Romain) 
Billy Bach looks to score in the paint during Lane Tech’s victory on Hinsdale on Friday, February 11 in LaGrange. (Shanel Romain) 
Billy Bach looks to score in the paint during Lane Tech’s victory over Hinsdale on Friday, February 11 in LaGrange. (Shanel Romain) 
Lyons Township defeated the Hinsdale Devils 60-53 on Friday, February 11 in LaGrange. (Shanel Romain) 
Lyons Township defeated the Hinsdale Devils 60-53 on Friday, February 11 in LaGrange. (Shanel Romain) 
Tavari Jonson dunks on a fast break during Lyons Township’s 60-53 victory on Friday, February 11 in LaGrange. (Shanel Romain) 
(Shanel Romain) 
Tavari Jonson dunks on a fast break during Lyons Township’s 60-53 victory on Friday, February 11 in LaGrange. (Shanel Romain)
LTHS girls top seed in sectional
The Lyons Township and Riverside-Brookfield girls basketball teams began Class 4A LTHS Sectional play on Feb. 15 with regional semifinal action.
The Lions (25-3), the No. 1 seed of the sectional, played No. 16 Proviso West at the Proviso East Regional while the No. 12 Bulldogs (11-19) faced No. 5 Simeon at the Mother McAuley Regional. Both regional finals are Friday.
The Lions defeated Willowbrook 61-48 on Feb. 9 in the meeting of the respective West Suburban Conference division champions behind Izzy Lee (14 points), Hailey Markworth (12 points) and Ally Cesarini and Elin O’Brien (9 points each).
The Bulldogs defeated Aurora Central Catholic 57-50 on Feb. 8 to finish 2-10 in the Metro Suburban Conference.
Swimmers seek state berths at sectionals
The Riverside-Brookfield and Lyons Township boys swimmers and divers will seek state berths at the LTHS Sectional on Feb. 19. Sectional champions automatically advance as well as entries that achieve the state-qualifying standard or diving score cuts based on sectional performances.
At their respective conference meets, the Bulldogs finished third at the Southwest Prairie Conference Meet (230 points) on Feb. 5 while the Lions were third at the West Suburban Conference Silver Meet on Feb. 4.
RBHS senior Harrison Nolan dominated diving with 539.70 points. Sophomore Drew Rosa won the 200-yard individual medley (2:00.26) and was second in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.11) by .05.
