Leavitt, Conant floating after tourney win

Conant's title hopes in the 35th annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic boys basketball tournament appeared to be sinking with 16 seconds left in overtime Tuesday night.

Then Cameron Leavitt came to the last-second rescue for the Cougars.

Leavitt's running and floating one-handed 10-footer dropped softly through the net with one second left to give Conant a 33-32 victory over St. Ignatius and its fifth York tourney title since 1996 in Elmhurst.

"It was pretty easy," Leavitt said of smiling for postgame pictures after the Cougars (10-2) won their fourth even-year Tosh title since 2002 and avenged a 55-36 championship game loss last year to St. Ignatius (10-3).

The final shot was and wasn't so easy for Leavitt, who shared game-high scoring honors of 13 points with teammate and tourney MVP Tim Gilhooly.

St. Ignatius took a 32-31 lead with 16 seconds on Dan Fahey's 3-point play after a pair of inside misses. Conant was out of timeouts and had the ball knocked out of bounds in the corner with seven seconds left.

"We were trying to get an open shot - anything we could get," said Gilhooly, who inbounded to David Trinco in the backcourt.

Trinco then got the ball to Leavitt on the right side. The 6-foot-2 senior went up and had to loft the ball over 6-9 sophomore Nnanna Egwu.

"At first I drove and was going to try to draw a foul but I saw a lane," Leavitt said. "I really had to get it over him because he blocked me earlier in the game.

"I was a little bit nervous and hoping it would go in. It felt pretty good when it left my hands."

Gilhooly had a good feeling soon as he saw Leavitt let it fly.

"He loves that shot," Gilhooly said with a smile. "We always joke around with him that the runner down the middle is his favorite thing. I knew it was right in and I didn't even have to look."

St. Ignatius couldn't answer with no timeouts left in a game where Conant had the biggest lead 1:44 after halftime at 20-14.

"Our guys didn't get discouraged and kept playing defense," said Conant coach Tom McCormack after both teams combined to shoot 34 percent from the field and commit 34 turnovers, "and that is a tough, tough team to defend."

Conant took a 26-25 lead with 1:22 left in regulation on a short drive by all-tourney pick Tony Rizzo. A tying free throw seven seconds later by Joe Bulliner forced overtime.

Taylor Peterson, Gilhooly and Rizzo combined to hit 5-of-6 free throws to give Conant a 31-27 lead. But Fahey's drive and a turnover put Ignatius in position for its third title in four years.

Then Leavitt floated in for some sweet redemption.

"A lot of teams would have quit and put their heads down," Leavitt said. "We had to stay together. You can't quit until the game is over."

WW South 40, Palatine 31: Kevin Becker (9 points) and Matt Rossi (7 points) led Palatine (2-11) in the 11th-place game.