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Tony Thomas pointed at the stitches above his right eye. He knew they likely would be visible in the picture.
The battle scar, eight days old, was Thomas’ reminder of what had been a pivotal night in his fledgling career as an Onalaska High School boys basketball player.
One moment the 6-foot-4 junior forward was on the court for the Hilltoppers’ Jan. 7 MVC game against Sparta. The next, he was on the bench in the first quarter after getting elbowed in the face.
What happened next wasn’t the result of screws in Thomas’ head being tightened, as Onalaska coach Craig Kowal said with a laugh. Thomas scored a career-high 17 points. He wasn’t afraid to shoot the ball. He contributed to the Hilltoppers’ 62-37 victory.
If this was the result of an accident, perhaps Thomas should seek out punishment from the opposition more often.
“That’s what my mom said,” Thomas said with a smile.
Kowal is happy that Thomas’ injury wasn’t serious. He’s even happier that Thomas, a first-year varsity player who is averaging 5.5 points a game, is growing more and more comfortable with his role as a starter. That’s been especially true in the Hilltoppers’ past four games, a stretch in which Thomas has averaged 9.8 points a game.
Both Thomas and senior guard Tyler Adams scored a team-high nine points in the Hilltoppers’ come-from-behind, 42-41 MVC win over Aquinas on Jan. 15. Thomas went 4-for-6 from the floor. His defensive rebound off a missed free throw by Aquinas’ Evan Pederson with 23 seconds left set up the game-winning shot, a layup by Adams with 4 seconds left.
“Tony is starting to figure it out,” Kowal said. “He put the time in over the summer, and he’s grown a lot. It took awhile for his skill level to catch up to his body.
“He’s been a good player for us. We need him to be in order for us to keep playing well.”
Thomas hopes nothing prevents him from doing just that.
“I know I just have to keep playing the way I have been playing,” Thomas said. “I’ve got to keep the same mentality.”
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