Conant 55, Fremd 41

Posted February 01, 2008 10:00 pm

By Bill Esbrook Daily Herald Correspondent

Friday turned out to be a perfect day for a Conant hoops player.

School was canceled and the Cougars still got to play -- and win -- a boys basketball game.

Conant (16-4, 7-1) jumped on Fremd (8-12, 4-4)early for a 55-41 Mid-Suburban West victory in Hoffman Estates.

The players routine was thrown off a bit by the snow day but no one seemed to mind.

"It was actually nice to sleep in a little," said Conant junior Tony Rizzo, "but we were able to come in and have a walk-through about 1 o'clock."

The Cougars followed their usual methods -- controlling the ball, being patient on offense and playing tough, in-your-face defense.

But even with the victory, Rizzo felt the Cougars' 'D' wasn't up to their usual standards.

"We felt like we slipped a little on defense tonight," said the junior. "We like to hold teams to as few points as possible."

Senior Tommy Sotos led Conant with 16 points while Dan Bruno scored 16 for the Vikings, who couldn't get closer than 7 points in the second half.

"They're a well-coached team," said Bruno of the Cougars. "They do everything right, and it's tough to play against them."

Fremd closed to within 40-33 with three minutes left but Conant hit 11-of-14 free throws down the stretch.

"They run lot of different defenses against us," said Conant senior Jeff Keegan (8 points). "We focused on executing against their 'D,' and playing good defense ourselves."

Rizzo scored 12 points while forward Chris Hoffman contributed 8 points for the Cougars, who will try to get coach Tom McCormack his 400th career victory tonight at Niles North.

Jim Mundt tallied 6 for Fremd while Will Reising and Alex Weis each scored 5.

"We got to with seven a couple of times," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski, "but each time we did they were able to come up with an offensive rebound, and on one of those possessions they got a 3. That was a big play."

"Last time we lost to them by about 20," added Bruno. "We tried to come out and just play better, because we have been playing well. But tonight, it didn't happen."