Conant upends Hoffman Estates
You'd never think that Hoffman Estates and Conant were boys basketball teams with a combined 13 wins, two in the Mid-Suburban West, between them the way they went at it Friday night at Hoffman.
A lot of physicality, as coaches say, a lot of floor burn, a lot of "get-out-of-my-way-I'm-going-to-the-hoop" type offensive play, met by sticky, path-denying defense both ways.
Conant did it a little better though, especially as it broke the game open in the third quarter with an 11-2 run en route to a 52-42 win to close the MSL-West regular season.
A slender 21-18 halftime advantage for the Cougars exploded into double digits as junior forward Devon Ellis (19 points) took charge. He had a driving 3-point play, a putback, another fastbreak basket and another drive through traffic to help his Cougar teammates get a take-charge feeling that this young team (only two seniors) has not experienced often enough this season.
"It definitely felt good," said head coach Jim Maley, who is clearly leaning on his plethora of underclassmen to be even more competitive in what's left of this season and into the next. "We played hard. We played well."
It was keyed by defense, a trapping zone disguised as a matchup, a 2-3 or a 1-2-2 at various points. Whatever it was,
it denied Hoffman the good looks that guards Vatsal Pandya (11 points) and foul-plagued Levert Sertesen (8) are accustomed to getting. Nate Fisher also had 11 for Hoffman, which got the lead down to 6 late but could get no closer as Conant got key hoops from high-scorer Sean Beckman (17 points) from the perimeter and Ellis around the basket, as he proved virtually unstoppable.
Guards Chris Armstrong, Matt McColaugh, Brandon Schroyer and Daniel Hong made sure the Cougars were able to run clock and generate free throw chances down the stretch, while minimizing turnovers.
Hoffman (8-16, 0-10), which started off leading after shooting 5 of 8 in the first quarter, got confounded by that Cougar zone and found few chances near the rim, nor second chances no matter where their shots originated from, finishing 19 of 48 from the floor.
"I'm really disappointed in our transition defense," said Hawks coach Luke Yanule, whose team will open regional play at Maine East against the hosts, with Evanston waiting the week of March 2. But he could almost see the result coming. "I was disappointed in our week in practice," he said, noting it just wasn't sharp enough. With one MSL divisional crossover left and then the regional, "We'd like to finish strong for our seniors," like Sertesen, Pandya, Fisher, John Kurzynski and Jevin Dobbins.
Conant (5-21, 2-8), would like to finish strong as well, but has powerhouse Glenbrook South waiting at the Maine West regional, although the cougars played them competitively earlier this week.
"We're playing a team we lost to (78-55)," Maley noted. "It would be nice to get a little payback."