Conant pulls away from Lake Park in fourth

In golf there's the mantra that no matter how badly you're struggling there's at least one shot that'll bring you back for another round.

Lake Park has found the rough most of this basketball season. Saturday it had the equivalent of a birdie third quarter, holding Conant scoreless.

Conant handled the rest to capture a 54-37 nonconference win in Roselle. Senior Tim Gilhooly made six 3-point baskets and scored 28 points overall, 18 in the first quarter.

"It's just all my teammates. You've got to give them all the credit," said the 6-foot-3 Gilhooly, who hit five 3-pointers and scored all but 2 of the Cougars' points in a first quarter they led 20-10.

"They found me and I just happened to hit the shots tonight," Gilhooly said. "All my teammates setting screens and getting me open, it's all them."

Conant (14-5) took a 32-21 halftime lead then for 8 minutes it was all Lake Park. Lancers coach Cray Allen had put 5-foot-10 Pat Powers on the 6-3 Gilhooly in the second quarter to good effect, and the shorter senior returned to deny Gilhooly the ball.

Lake Park pulled within 32-31 after three quarters as Gilhooly shot 0 for 4 as opposed to 10 of 13 the rest of the game.

Allen called it "an extremely dedicated job" by Powers.

"He's always a stopper," Allen said. "I don't care if the (opponent's) 5-foot-10, 5-4, 6-5, 6-7, he always stops the best player. I'll be sad when that kid leaves."

After an 0-of-10 shooting spell by Conant, Cameron Leavitt's inside basket early in the fourth quarter "broke the ice," as Cougars coach Tom McCormack said.

"Then the floodgates seemed to open up," McCormack said. "We were able to go inside-out a little bit more."

Lake Park (3-18) couldn't match Conant's 22-point fourth quarter, though the Lancers hung around a bit.

Guard Matt Drufke, whose 16 points joined Danny Baylis' 11 in double figures, kept Lake Park within 44-37 with 2:52 left before Conant started pulling away on a basket and then a three-point play by Taylor Peterson, who scored 12 points.

"We came out, played pretty intense," Drufke said of the inspiring third quarter. "Unfortunately we didn't come out with the same intensity in the fourth quarter and it got away."