Conant displays growth, maturity

It's been an up and down season for a Conant team that features three sophomores in its regular rotation.

But the Cougars appear to be growing up at the right time. That maturity was on full display on Friday night as host Fremd twice cut a double-digit lead to 5, only to see Conant pull away for a 53-37 Mid-Suburban West victory.

"When you're young, you're up and down," said Conant coach Tom McCormack. "At this time of the year, you want to be playing well. We think we played pretty well last weekend, and we were glad to see that follow up tonight."

When Fremd's Garrett Peters knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 29-24, Kevin Schimel (8 points) buried one of his own on the next possession. And when Adam Gorecki (13 points) scored on an offensive rebound to make it 32-27, Schimel answered again from long range.

Conant (12-11, 6-3) never looked back.

"Earlier in the year, we may have forced a quick shot to try to make something happen right away," McCormack said. "We had two ball reversals and a post touch before we took that shot to get us back going again. That's what you like to see a young group do."

"When we got it to five, we needed to get some stops," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. "Whenever we did cut it down, they came up with a big 3 or a second chance opportunity. We couldn't get the stop that we needed."

The Cougars took control from the outset as Tim Manczko set the tone with 8 first-quarter points to help stake his team to an early 15-4 lead.

"I was able to find some penetration and other guys were feeding off me and hitting shots also," Manczko said. "When you get momentum and the team is feeling it, everything seems to go your way."

Fremd (14-10, 5-4) shot just 28 percent (10-for-36) from the floor and never seemed comfortable against the area's top defensive team.

"We didn't get off to a good start and never got into a flow," Widlowski said. "Conant did an excellent job dictating the pace of the game and executing their game plan."

Up 8 points with seven minutes left, Conant put the game away with six fourth-quarter layups, taking their biggest lead at 53-35 on D'Angelo McBride's layup.

"As you can see from the stats, we aren't the best offensive team," Manczko said. "That's why every possession really matters to us. We really have to work the ball to find a good shot. When it's there, we take it and crash the boards like crazy."

McCormack was especially pleased with the way Sean Bourke played against Gorecki down low and how active McBride was on defense. Manczko and McBride led the Cougars with 13 points apiece.

"We think we are growing up at the right time," McCormack said. "We'll see."