Conant holds off Wheeling

Wheeling-Conant was a boys basketball game custom made for Dick Vitale: full of “diaper dandies.”

Two young, inexperienced teams played like it Monday night in the season opener for both at the St. Viator Thanksgiving Tournament before Conant emerged with a 49-37 victory.

It wasn’t easy. Conant, starting three underclassmen and coming with three more off the bench, had to rely on solid free throw shooting and open looks against Wheeling’s pressure before wrapping up a game it led by double-digits most of the way.

“We’ve just got to keep working hard, keep repping everything,” in practice, said Conant high-scorer Tim Manczko (19 points), who had a reverse layup and 4 key free throws in the final quarter when Wheeling twice got the lead under 10.

But while it was his team’s defense that made the difference, he also knows that can improve. Wheeling sophomore Jeremy Stephani (game-high 23) drilled six 3-pointers over Conant’s matchup zone, some from NBA range. How to fix that?

“Communicate better,” said Manczko. “We play matchup. You really have to talk in it.”

The matchup zone caught Wheeling by surprise when the Wildcats were expecting Conant’s traditional man-to-man.

“The matchup zone Conant ran was very effective. Conant’s defense took us out of a lot of things,” said Wheeling coach John Clancy.

So did Conant’s height and depth. Six-foot-6 sophomore center Mitch Tednes had his way inside against the shorter Wildcats in the first quarter, as did fellow sophomore D’Angelo McBride (11 points). Manczko, a 6-2 junior, took over from there, with 12 points in the second half and 4 straight field goals without a miss.

But even though, “We have a little bit of size,” according to Conant coach Tom McCormack, “We’re going to need to grow up,” meaning from the standpoint of maturity and steadier play.

Conant did commit a flurry of turnovers when Wheeling turned up its own defensive pressure and rallied back into the game.

“Definitely, the kids battled,” said Clancy. Three-pointers by Chris Pierro, Charlie Kirk and, of course, Stephani, put a scare into the Cougars in the second half.

But in the end, Wheeling proved even younger and less experienced than Conant.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids and inexperienced kids and that showed early,” said Clancy, as Conant dashed to a 15-3 lead after one on the strength of McBride’s hoops off the bench and Tednes’ dominance inside.

“We won the game defensively, keeping track of their shooters and not letting them get a second shot,” said McCormack.