Johnson's Work Ethic Contagious in Bloom Boys Basketball Camp

Lejavius Johnson felt like Bloom Township’s boys basketball team was in good shape when the Blazing Trojans’ latest battle with Homewood-Flossmoor turned into something that more closely resembled a rugby match that hoops shootout between old neighborhood rivals.

“We knew if got like that—a rugby match—we were going to win,” Johnson said following Bloom’s 43-32 victory over H-F Friday night in the championship game of the Class 4A Lockport Sectional. “We feel like we’re way more physical than them. That’s just our kids—we showed our mental and physical toughness.

“We knew there were people out there that disrespected us by not calling us one of the top teams back in June. It was all H-F then. And we just took that to heart and have been working ever since to prove them wrong.”

Johnson scored eight of his 11 points in the second quarter and helped Bloom Township (27-3) gain its first sectional title since 2000. He twice spotted up on the perimeter, took kick-out passes from teammate Donald Moore and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers.

Johnson’s shooting triggered a 12-1 scoring run for the Blazing Trojans and enabled them to open leads of 18-11 and 24-13.

“When Don drives—a lot of people respect Don,” Johnson said of Moore. “When he drives, the whole team focuses on him. It takes the focus off me. It’s an easy job for me just to catch-and-shoot.

“It opens the floor up for Don so he can even attack more when we’re knocking down open threes. It makes it hard for other teams to guard us.”

When Johnson wasn’t doing damage from the 3-point line, he was battling on the boards. He took his 6-2 body into the land of giants and grabbed nine rebounds. His work underneath the basket was telling against a Homewood-Flossmoor frontline featuring 6-7 Tim Williams, 6-7 Antonio Bishop and 6-5 Maurius Hill.

“Ever since June, we’ve just been in the gym working, and that’s what this game was all about—who was working during the summer and who wasn’t,” Johnson said.

Bloom moves on to face Edwardsville at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, in the Normal Supersectional at ISU’s Redbird Arena. Edwardsville knocked out Pekin 51-43 behind Garrett Covington’s 16-point, eight-rebound performance.

“We just started pushing the ball more, making the defense our offense, getting in the passing lanes like we usually do,” Moore said of Bloom’s explosive second-quarter spurt against H-F. “We started getting more layups and open jump shots, and everybody was knocking them down.”

“I’m very proud of the way the kids handled themselves when things weren’t going our way in the third quarter,” Bloom coach Jasper Williams said. “They showed a never-say-die attitude. We hung in there. We missed a lot of free throws. But we rebounded the ball very well, and we relied on our defense to keep us in the game.

“It got ugly. We committed a bunch of fouls early in the third quarter. The kids just kept playing. We missed a couple of layups there. But fortitude. We just refused to lose. That’s a testament to this young man right here and all the rest of the seniors.”

Williams pointed in the direction of Johnson as he made the comment, a smile crossing his face.

“I think in the second half we took ourselves out of the game by taking away our own aggressiveness,” Johnson said. “Instead of driving and attacking, we kind of slowed the game down and played more of their game.”

But when it turned into a rugby match, Johnson and the Blazing Trojans dug deep. They won not with size but, rather, by displaying the heart of a champion.