Conant topples Palatine

Conant had the hot hand Thursday night at Palatine in a Mid-Suburban West boys basketball matchup.

The Cougars shot 68 percent from the field and 81 percent (18-for-22) from the free throw line while defeating Palatine 56-46 to notch their sixth win in a row.

One of the hottest hands belonged to senior Chris Dolce, who hit two sizzling 3-point baskets in the third quarter to turn back a run by the Pirates.

"Those were a couple of big baskets," said Conant coach Tom McCormack. "He hit those two shots with a lot of pressure on him. I think the key to the game was our first possession. We held the ball for about 1:30 and then scored. It got us off to a good start. Palatine put a lot of ball pressure on us."

Just into the third quarter, Conant enjoyed a 32-19 lead when RJ Smith (15 points) hit for two baskets and Mike Williams followed with a third to narrow the lead to 32-25.

Dolce connected from the right wing. Freshman Ryan Davis converted a 3-point play and Dolce hit again from the same spot to key a 9-4 run for a 41-29 lead.

Conant (10-6, 2-2) scored the next 6 points for a 47-29 lead before Palatine's Chris Macahon (13 points) scored before the end of the quarter.

Palatine (11-6, 2-3) made a late run keyed by Smith's 8 points and 4 from Williams before time ran out. Williams led all rebounders with 7 and Smith had 5.

Danny Sotos tallied 13 points followed by Davis (8) and Jimmy Sotos (7).

"We knew they would make a run at us sometime," McCormack said. "We did a good job keeping them from getting spurts. When it came, it was late in the game. Early in the year we were losing some close games. Then we won a few close ones and know we've been able to build leads going into the fourth quarter and hanging on."

McCormack then turned his attention to Dolce.

"He's been consistent for us all year," the coach said. "He's a good shooter and he finds ways to score. He's another one of our players who worked hard over the summer to improve himself."

"The biggest thing that changed my game was confidence," Dolce said. "I spent hours in the gym every day working on different aspects of my game over the summer. I didn't want to go into this season thinking that I should have done more in the off-season to prepare myself for this year. I think I'm a good shooter and I proved that tonight."

Palatine coach Eric Millstone was impressed with Conant's overall play.

"Conant played a very good disciplined game," Millstone said. "They shot the ball real well. In turn we didn't shoot the ball well. It was that simple. What we have to do is shore up our defense. That's what we'll be doing in practice."