Conant defeats Wheaton North in Jack Tosh semifinal

Conant's Ryan Davis came into Friday's semifinal of the 44th annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York averaging 23 points a game in the tournament.

He equaled that amount in a 62-53 victory over Wheaton North to put the defending-champion Cougars back in the title game at 6 p.m. Saturday, against Brother Rice, which beat Batavia 61-40.

In other words the Vermont commit just did what he always does and continued to make his case for tournament most valuable player. But it was the effort of shooting guard Ben Schols that may have been the difference for the Cougars (10-4).

Schols scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, including an NBA-caliber 3-pointer from the right arc to kick off the scoring. He added a layup off a press break at 6:20, then converted a three-point play with two minutes to go that essentially put the game out of reach.

Do the math. Take away his 10 fourth-quarter points and the outcome just might have been different. He was the perfect counterpunch to a Wheaton North team that connected on 11 3-pointers, including 3 in the final 1:50 that kept the game relatively close.

"Ben came to play today," Conant coach Jim Maley said. "You could see it in his eyes in the second half. He was ready to go. He can do a lot of things. He can shoot it, he's strong, he's our second-best post player, I think, and he handles the ball well."

Granted, Schols didn't have a stellar first half, scoring only 2, while Davis put up 10. But he connected on a 3 midway through the third quarter that was just a warmup for his fourth-quarter spurt.

"We were struggling a little bit, getting good possession on offense," Schols said. "Coach has been pushing me to be aggressive, and I did what I saw fit, and I made the right cuts and my teammates saw me."

As for Davis, he was no slouch in the second half, scoring 13, including a pair of 3-pointers. Not bad, considering he had to deal with constant double- and triple-teams all night. He also added a game-high 7 rebounds and 7 assists.

Wheaton North (6-6) shot 52 percent from 3-point land, with junior guard Jacob Schauer doing the most damage with 4 long-distance shots, including a pair in the final 1:50. Senior Brayden Anthony added 3, and seniors Drew Arbogast and Garrett Horner each had a pair.

But Wheaton North, which will play Batavia at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the third-place game, was hampered by an inability to hit a single 2-point field goal in the first half. The Falcons shot just 30 percent from inside the arc for the game.

Plus the Falcons had to place special emphasis defensively on slowing down Davis, which fell to forwards Josh Sorenson, a senior, and junior Deng Reng. Sorenson fouled out with 7 points and 3 rebounds. Reng finished with 9 points and 6 boards, along with 3 fouls.

"(The 3-pointer) was the only thing that kept us hanging around," Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann said. "We were sort of living and dying by the 3, and I thought we were playing really tentative, which is what that type of defense wants you to do. We dug ourselves a hole we couldn't climb out of."

Now Conant has the opportunity to repeat as tournament champion - the exact position it wanted to be in, Davis said.

"It was a goal, an expectation for us this year," he said. "We want to get better and better every game."