No repeat for Conant

The smallest player in the tournament proved to be the biggest obstacle to a repeat title for Conant in the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic boys basketball tournament.

St. Ignatius senior guard Keith Smith played bigger than 5-foot-6 all over the court at York. The tournament MVP had 13 points and 6 assists to spark a 55-36 championship game victory Saturday night in Elmhurst.

"He was legitimately the MVP," said Conant coach Tom McCormack.

"You never knew where he was going," said 6-foot-4 Conant senior Chris Hoffman of Smith. "He'd dribble one way, look another and then he passes a third way. He's a great player."

And Smith's ability to find those options gave St. Ignatius (12-1) its second York title in three years and prevented Conant (10-4) from its fourth in six years and fifth since 1996.

St. Ignatius, which suffered its only loss by 2 points to Lincoln Park at Thanksgiving, got only 6 points from all-tourney pick Zachary Watkins. But senior Joe Mezyk stepped up with 23 points on 10-for-14 shooting and 10 rebounds.

"They were very skilled," McCormack said after the Wolfpack shot 56.4 percent from the field (22-for-39). "We know (Mezyk) is a good player but we thought he was the third option after (Smith and Watkins) and he lit us up."

And Conant went stone-cold after it closed within 23-19 with 5:24 left in the first half on a layup by Hoffman (8 points, 5 rebounds) and a 3-pointer by Tony Rizzo.

All-tourney pick Rizzo scored only 1 more of his 11 points and finished 3-for-10 from the field and all-tourney pick Tommy Sotos shot just 1-for-9 for 2 points against St. Ignatius' physical man-to-man.

"Nothing was clicking tonight," Hoffman said as the Cougars shot 27 percent (12-for-44) from the field and were 2-for-14 on 3-pointers.

"It all starts with our point guard (Smith)," said St. Ignatius coach Rich Kehoe. "If you let (Conant) get in a rhythm you've got some problems. They've got a pretty good half-court offense."

Tim Gilhooly added 8 points as the game gradually slipped away for the Cougars in the second half. But one area did not, which was encouraging with Hersey and Schaumburg up next in January.

"I liked the fact we kind of hung in there the second half," McCormack said after the Cougars' first York title-game loss in five tries.

"I think we also looked at this experience as being a positive," Hoffman said. "We never quit and that's what we liked a lot."