Thomas back in uniform for Renaissance Academy

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Well, well, well.... Take a look at who’s making an appearance in The Times’ top 25 boys’ basketball poll this week. It’s Renaissance Academy in at No. 16. The Wildcats are a deserving group, playing about as well as anyone in Southern California these days and only figure to improve with the addition of Josh Thomas.

Thomas sprained his right knee against Keppel in mid-December, aggravated the injury in the next game against Etiwanda and had been sidelined since. That is, until now. The senior guard made his highly anticipated return over the weekend, scoring eight points in a 68-52 victory over Santa Barbara.

‘I can’t tell you how happy we are to have Josh back,’’ Coach Sid Cooke said. ‘He’s a tough kid, one of the toughest we have, and it was hard getting him out of the lineup. He would play even if he couldn’t walk. But we had to get some rest. Josh is feeling better now, getting back into shape.’’

His timing couldn’t be better as Renaissance Academy enters the home stretch of regular season play. Having a healthy Thomas, who averages 14.1 points and 4.3 assists per game, will be key as the Wildcats prepare to make a postseason run, and perhaps, makes some more noise in the rankings.

--Sean Ceglinsky