Boards bulge helps Palatine top Conant

Both Palatine coach Eric Millstone and Conant coach Tom McCormack agreed on the key to the host Pirates' 49-46 win over the Cougars on Friday night.

Rebounding.

"They just hammered us on the boards," said McCormack of the Pirates' 30-18 advantage. "That was the biggest difference."

"In 11 of our first 15 games we've been outrebounded," said Millstone after his team broke a seven-game losing streak. "When we shoot well and rebound, we can hang tough with teams."

Palatine also connected on 19-of-37 shots from the field for 51 percent, while the Cougars could hit on only 14-of-46 for 30 percent.

The other key factor was the Pirates switching to a 2-3 zone defense as they built a 45-32 lead early in the fourth quarter.

"Even at that point," said Millstone, "I still thought it would come down to the end of the game."

The Cougars, now 11-4 overall and 3-1 in the Mid-Suburban West, turned up the defensive pressure in the final quarter and forced 9 of the Pirates' 19 turnovers.

Those turnovers helped spark a 12-0 Conant run that cut the Pirates' lead to 45-44 with 2:18 left. Dylan Bartuch scored 5 of his 12 points in the quarter. London Dokubo (12 points) stole the ball for Conant to cut the lead to 1.

The Pirates (6-10, 2-2) showed they were resilient as John Millin found Tom Hauert (10 points) for a layup with 2:02 left.

"John and I work that play often," said Hauert. "We wanted to make sure we had a good shot. When John went to the baseline he drew my defender away and got me the ball for the layup. We needed this game."

Conant pulled to within 47-46 with 16 seconds left on a putback by Brian Wadsworth (10 points).

Palatine's Peter Bony (15 points, 4 rebounds) then hit both ends of a 1-and-1 for the 49-46 lead with 9.3 seconds left. Two 3-point tries by the Cougars to force overtime came up short.

"We had a lot of energy tonight," said Bony. "We feel comfortable with the 2-3 zone. It's not a lazy man's defense. We have really had to work on it and it has made us better."

The Cougars looked as if they would run away when the went on a 11-2 run in the second quarter and led 26-17 with 2:47 left.

Palatine finished the quarter with a 9-0 run to tie the game at halftime at 26-26.

"That was a key factor," said McCormack. "We couldn't build on the lead and we let them back in the game."

Palatine hit 7-of-13 third quarter shots and dominated the boards in building a 43-32 lead going into the fourth quarter.

"I thought (sophomore) Josh Baldus gave us a big inside presence with 11 points and 6 rebounds," said Millstone. "Hopefully this win will keep us in the right direction."