Bourke helping Conant's growth continue

Conant's young boys basketball team is growing up and senior forward Sean Bourke has a lot to do with it.

One of only two seniors in the first eight, he led by example Thursday night in a 53-44 Mid-Suburban West win at home over Barrington. Bourke and fellow senior Josh Copher hit 3-pointers early and played tough defense throughout to help carry the Cougars (4-2, 2-0).

They had to. Outside of their combined 5-of-7 at the free throw line and 6-of-12 from the floor, their teammates didn't fare as well against Barrington's tight man-to-man and shot a cumulative 12-of-22 at the line and 8-of-20 from the floor.

While Bourke thought he had a "slow start," he credited his younger teammates. "Everyone's talented. Anyone can get hot."

But everyone has to play defense. "We played well defensively," said head coach Tom McCormack.

In their new-look match-up zone, Bourke admitted he's more accustomed to overplaying everything in the man-to-man for which Conant had always been famous. But the zone is working better and better because, "We communicate better," he said.

It shows. Barrington (5-3, 1-1) shot just 17-of-42 from the floor and 4-of-14 on 3-pointers and only hung around thanks to their own defense.

"Absolutely," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker. "Our defense was pretty good. It's going to give us a chance."

A chance for sharpshooter Brad Zaumseil to heat up, but he didn't break loose until late, hitting 5-of-9 in the second half, including 3-of-5 on 3-pointers for 22 of Barrington's 44 points.

Forward Mark Bennett had 14, battling foul problems, and "found some soft spots in the zone," Tucker noted, from which the 6-foot-5 senior forward could exploit his soft shooting touch.

"Barrington put us to the test," said McCormack, noting they had a good plan of attack against the zone but just missed some shots early, falling behind by as many as 15 before creeping back within 5 on a Zaumseil 3. Copher negated that with a 3 of his own and when Bennett went to the bench with 4 fouls, high-scorer Tim Manczko (13 points) fought through the tape on his shooting hand to knock down 5 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Manczko, Bourke (11) and Copher (10) paced a balanced Conant attack.

"Our young guys are growing up," said McCormack.