Blossoming freshman star Dakari Nesbitt leads Thornton past Bloom
Dakari Nesbitt, Kaden McClellan and Keiwon Gulley have been playing with and against each other since second grade. Nesbitt is a freshman at Thornton, and Gulley and McClellan play for Bloom.
In most years, the trio of talented guards would be coming off the bench or playing a supporting role in the starting lineup. But the senior and junior classes are weak all over the state, especially in the south suburbs.
So on Friday in Harvey, the three freshmen were starting and running the show in a Bloom-Thornton varsity game.
“We are not surprised at all,” Nesbitt said. “We always said we were the best class. We talked it up, and now we are living up to it.”
Nesbitt, 5-10 and strong, is blossoming into a star. His physical strength and heady play early in the season earned comparisons to Sherron Collins. Like Collins, who starred at Crane and Kansas, Nesbitt has been an immediate factor on varsity.
Nesbitt made the two key offensive plays in Thornton’s 50-47 win against Bloom and finished with 19 points, four rebounds, three steals and three assists.
“He is a special kid,” Wildcats coach Tai Streets said. “He’s tough-minded, and he talks like he’s a senior. I expected him to be good, but I didn’t know he was going to bring this. He just loves to play basketball.”
Streets has coached at Thornton since 2015. This is the first time he has handed the keys to a freshman.
“This is weird, uncharted territory for me,” Streets said. “I’m letting a freshman make decisions and stuff. He understands the game. He’s goofy as hell and I’m ready to kill him at times, but he is as tough as they come.”
Nesbitt’s rebound and reverse layup put Thornton (7-8, 4-2 Southland) ahead 42-41 with 5:20 left. Bloom (10-8, 3-3) took back the lead two minutes later, and Nesbitt responded with a steal and layup to give Thornton a 46-45 lead.
“I just had to get involved,” Nesbitt said. “I was a little bit dry and my energy was low, but I picked up when it counted at the end.”
The Blazing Trojans missed two game-tying three-pointers on the final possession of the game.
Junior Kobe Stevenson had 16 points and four rebounds for Thornton, which led 28-22 at halftime and then trailed 38-33 after three quarters.
“It has been a roller coaster all year, but we are getting better,” Streets said. “There is no real strong or dominant team [in the south suburbs], so we just want to keep improving and make a run in the playoffs.”
Bloom starts the two freshmen, sophomore Jaqun Harris, junior Xavier Martin and senior Troy Garner (14 points, five rebounds).
With so many freshmen and sophomores on the court, it could have passed for a sophomore game. McClellan had 14 points and five rebounds for Bloom, and Gulley finished with six points.
“These young guys can all play,” Bloom coach Larry Ellis said. “We will look back on this as the start of something years from now. I know what they are all capable of. -Dakari Nesbitt is a heck of a basketball player. It is not a fluke.”