Another Conant comeback at York

Conant switched tactics and came up with another comeback victory Tuesday at the 41st annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic.

Trailing by as many as 9 points to Minooka, Conant switched to a zone defense and was able to rally for a 37-35 victory in the semifinals of the consolation bracket.

The win put Conant (6-6) in the consolation title game Wednesday at noon against Batavia, which beat Sandburg 58-45.

Conant coach Tom McCormack said that switching to a zone defense from man made a huge difference for his squad.

"We pressured them really hard in the first half," McCormack said. "And it was just the opposite of yesterday (Monday). Yesterday we were off of them and we had to come on them real hard. Today we were on them real hard and we had to come off of them a little bit."

Conant, which opened the game playing man to man, found itself trailing 24-15 early in the third quarter. That's when the Cougars switched to a zone.

The tactics worked well, as Minooka (7-6) found itself out of sync on the offensive end.

Conant also found its offensive game, thanks to the play of Danny Sotos. The senior sparked a 12-2 run that saw the Cougars take a 27-26 lead on his brother Jimmy's baseline driving layup that turned into a 3-point play.

"I saw the lane and took the ball down the line," said Jimmy Sotos, who finished with 7 points. "I just want to do whatever I can to help the team."

Minooka regained the lead at the end of the third quarter 28-27 and added a basket early in the fourth quarter to lead 30-27. Jimmy Sotos tied it at 33 with a 3-point basket with 5:20 to play.

Minooka took its final lead on a 3-point basket by Larry Roberts (16 points) with 4:51 to play. But it was all Conant from there.

A basket by Chris Dolce and a driving layup by Kyle Bradley put the Cougars up for good at 34-33 with 4:09 to play. Conant then denied Minnoka any good looks at the basket, forcing the Indians away from the basket.

The Cougars used their possessions to run some time off, with Dolce finally being fouled with 44.3 seconds remaining. The senior calmly drilled both attempts to put Conant up 36-33.

"We practice shooting free throws when we are tired after running sprints," said Dolce, who finished with 8 points. "It is the difference in games and I knew I had to hit them."

Minooka closed to 36-35 with 21.7 seconds to play on a pair of free throws, but Danny Sotos added a free throw with just over 20 seconds to play to make it 37-35.

Minooka had a chance to tie or win the game. But again, the Cougars stiffened on defense and Minooka's final shot, a poor 3-point attempt, hit the front of the rim.

"We have been on the short end of these, so it is really nice to get two games in a row like this," McCormack said. "We were reaching for something at halftime. And we were able to come out and play a dynamite third quarter and play solid defense in the final quarter."

McCormack said Danny Sotos' leadership was key to the Cougars' victory.

"The wheel started to come off the wagon, and I thought Danny Sotos really kept the wheels on the wagon for us," McCormack said. "He got inside, he scored. He kept communicating to his teammates. He did a great job of leadership today."

Danny Sotos, who led the Cougars with 15 points, said he was just trying to do his job as a three-year varsity player.

"It is tough to be down at halftime two days in a row to teams we think we should be able to beat," Danny Sotos said. "So everyone was a little down on themselves. I was just doing my best to keep everyone up."