Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York
If the scheme isn't working, blow it up and try something that will.
Wheaton Warrenville South avoided intractability and overcame a 12-point output in the first half to squeak out a 36-34 victory over South Elgin at the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic in Elmhurst Thursday evening.
South Elgin (6-7) held WW South (8-3) to 2 points in the second quarter to take a 22-12 lead at the half, mainly because the out-of-sync Tigers committed 9 turnovers in the period while the Storm was shooting 5 of 11.
WW South coach Mike Healy switched tactics at the break. His Tigers began penetrating and attacking the rim, a more aggressive approach that enabled his team to outscore the Storm 24-12 in the second half.
"We threw our offense out the window," Healy said. "I know we ran into some charges and stuff like that, but I think our kids had a mindset of being aggressive and making aggressive mistakes. In the second quarter we kind of got back on our heels a little bit."
The game wasn't decided until the final minute.
With the score knotted at 32, South Elgin triggered the ball in to point guard Alex Sanchez, who attempted to split a trap. But Sanchez fell as he tried to dribble and the Tigers raced up court with the ball.
Greg McAndrew's transition try didn't fall, but trailer Stephen Mueller grabbed the offensive rebound and sank a reverse layup that gave the Tigers a 34-32 lead with 24.3 seconds to play.
"I was just going and crashing the boards hard," Mueller said. "There were a bunch of guys behind me, too."
South Elgin was fouled on its ensuing possession, a late holiday gift from the Tigers considering the Storm connected on just 4 of 23 shots in the second half.
However, senior Josh Glenn missed 2 free throws in the double bonus with 14.5 seconds to play. Dane Olson grabbed the rebound for WW South, was subsequently fouled and sank both free throws at the other end to give the Tigers a 4-point lead with 12.6 seconds left.
"The plan was for me to catch the ball up by the wing up by the 3-point arc," Sanchez said. "But they caught us off guard with the trap. No one was looking because they were setting up the play, so I tried to make something happen and create. I tried to draw the foul but didn't get it."
In the aftermath South Elgin was left with too many "what ifs."
"We missed 4 shots in the last minute and a half and we missed 2 big free throws," Storm coach Chaz Taft said. "Alex had a shot, (6-foot-8 center) Danny (Lopez) had a shot. I mean, we're right in the lane, right there. We just have to execute down the stretch."
Wheaton Warrenville South will play Conant in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. today. South Elgin will face St. Charles East at 4 p.m.
-- Jerry Fitzpatrick
Conant 43, St. Charles East 39:ŒThe Conant boys basketball team is in a familiar place -- the semifinals of the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic hosted by York High School.
The defending champion Cougars (9-3) took another step toward repeating and winning their fourth title in six years with a 43-39 victory over St. Charles East on Thursday night in Elmhurst.
Conant will play in today's 7:30 p.m. semifinal against Wheaton Warrenville South (8-3), a 36-34 winner over South Elgin. Lyons and St. Ignatius play in the 6 p.m. semifinal.
The Saints (5-7) set the tempo of the game by coming out in a matchup zone and it looked like a sound strategy. The Cougars went just 1-for-9 from behind the 3-point arc in the first half as neither team was able to extend to a lead of more than 4 points.
Chris Hoffman scored 6 of his 13 points in the first quarter but the Cougars went so cold they did not convert 1 shot from the field in the second quarter.
However, the defensive end is where the Cougars thrive and despite that drought they still led at the half 17-15.
"We know there are going to be nights were we don't necessarily shoot the ball well," said Conant coach Tom McCormack. "A lot of that had to do with their defense tonight but our defense tonight was really solid.
"Their transition game is excellent and I think we took that away tonight, and then their post up game is excellent and we took that away tonight, which allowed us to hang in there when we weren't making shots."
"You have to give credit to them, that's how they win," said St. Charles East coach Brian Clodi. "They are the best defensive team in this tournament, they keep teams in the 40s and they take care of the basketball.
"They are going to get their looks on offense and they want to win 43-39. We tried not to play their game but it ended up that way."
In the second half, Tommy Sotos finally found the range for Conant and hit three 3-pointers on his way to a team high 16 points. That included a 4-point play that erased a short-lived Saints lead late in the third quarter.
"We're upset because we said (Sotos) can not get a shot off and we let him get a shot off," said Clodi. "We had the lead and that was a huge disappointment, we relaxed for one second, we got hand up, but you can't let him get that shot off."
Sotos opened up the fourth quarter with another 3. Then Tim Gilhooly, who had not scored all night, scored 7 straight points for the Cougars, including a 3-pointer, and set up Hoffman underneath to give Conant its largest lead at 40-33 with less than two minutes to play.
"Guys on this team can score in bunches," said Sotos. "When a team gives us open looks we have to be able to knock them down and if a guy has a hot hand, we try to keep giving it to him.
"We were a little tentative on the offensive end in the first half but in the second half we were looking for our shooters more."
Kevin Senechalle kept St. Charles East close all night with a game-high 17 points and 8 rebounds. Collin Pryor scored 6 points and had 9 rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
The Saints play at 4 p.m. today against South Elgin.
-- Chris Cuitino