Defense keys Conant's win

The Conant boys basketball team used a commanding second quarter to take a big lead and was able to hold off visiting Naperville North's second-half comeback for a 58-47 victory on Saturday night.

The Cougars outscored the Huskies 21-6 in the second quarter to take a 32-14 lead into the half. In that quarter, Conant (6-2) scored most of its points on fastbreak layups off of turnovers by Naperville North (4-5).

"I thought it was a pretty good combination of getting some offense off of our defense," Conant coach Tom McCormack said. "We played that quarter with a lot of intensity and that obviously created the separation in the score."

But with 3:50 left in the game the Cougars led by just 5 points.

"I don't think we were perfect today, by any stretch," McCormack said. "We played a real good half of basketball.

"To their credit, they didn't go away. They hung in there."

Senior Tim Gilhooly led the Cougars in scoring with 14 points. Cameron Leavitt was a big part of Conant's big first half with 11 of his 12 points coming before the intermission.

David Trinco was clutch for Conant in the fourth quarter, going 5-for-6 from the free throw line, which accounted for all of his scoring for the game.

It was Conant's half-court defense that gave the Huskies fits. Naperville North coach Mark Lindo said it was probably the best half-court defense his team had faced this season.

"They played some run-and-jump and they created some confusion with us," Lindo said. "They built what proved to be an insurmountable lead. Tip our cap to them for their tenacity on defense."

McCormack said his team's defense is a byproduct of what the Cougars see playing in the Mid-Suburban League.

"They don't give you much space," Lindo said. "I know coach McCormack takes a lot of pride in teaching his guys that."

Danny Grimley scored a game-high 15 points for the Huskies. Joe McNicholas added 14 and James O'Shaughnessy had 8.