Big finish rescues Conant against Fremd
The situation looked bleak for Conant midway through the third quarter of Friday's Mid-Suburban West boys basketball game. The host Cougars had just fallen behind division rival Fremd 36-26 and they hadn't exhibited any signs of turning the game around.
What Conant did in the final 12-plus minutes of the game was more than just turning the game around. The Cougars turned the game upside down, outscoring Fremd 19-2 the rest of the way and walking off the court with a hard-fought 45-38 victory.
The win gives Conant (7-1, 3-0) sole possession of first place in the division, while Fremd (9-2, 2-1) holds second place.
Conant's Jimmy Sotos led all scorers with 13 points, 6 coming in the fourth quarter, including 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the final 30 seconds.
The Cougars offensive rebounding was critical in the turnaround. Trailing 36-35, 6-9 sophomore Ryan Davis grabbed Sotos' only missed free throw and put it back to give Conant its first lead since the second quarter.
Six-foot-8 junior Michael Downing followed his own miss with a slam putback to make it 39-36 with 3:00 remaining in the game. Patrick Benka made Fremd's only basket of the quarter cutting the lead to 39-38 with 1:08 remaining.
Fremd was unable to score as time wound down, and the Cougars converted 6 of 7 from the line to ice the win.
“In the first half, we weren't letting our offense help our defense out,” Conant coach Tom McCormack said. “In the second half, we worked the ball more. Our patience on offense in the second half had a lot to do with it.”
Fremd, which had made 9 of 22 shots in the second half, including 6 of 8 from beyond the 3-point line, went ice cold in the second half, making just 2 of 15.
“I thought we played well in the first half, with great energy and great execution,” said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. “We had some good looks (in the second half). It's a shame; we played very well defensively. We just couldn't score. It's disappointing.”
The Vikings turned a 14-10 first quarter deficit into a 31-22 halftime lead, thanks to some torrid shooting from beyond the arc. Payton Kim (team high 11 points) made 2 of his 3 3-pointers in the second quarter, a 21-point outburst.
The 5 of 7 3-point shooting in that quarter left no hint of what was to come after intermission.
“I thought we did a good job attacking, but we didn't do a good job finishing,” Widlowski said.
And then Conant switched to a trapping zone defense, and Fremd didn't have the answer.
“The zone cut down on their penetration,” McCormack said. “Our guys did a great job rebounding (34-22).”
Davis finished with a double-double, 10 points and a career-best 13 rebounds.
“With our size, we wanted to keep them out of the paint and not give them any second chance shots,” Davis said.
“Ryan's been very consistent for us,” McCormack said. “He's got great hands for a big man, and he plays smart.”
The switch to the zone seemed to flip a switch on Conant's approach as well.
“As soon as we switched to the zone and got a turnover, that sparked everyone,” Sotos said. “Coach told us he wanted the offense to help the defense. We were forcing shots in the first half, and we possessed the ball a little longer in the second half.
“I knew I had to hit the 2 free throws,” Sotos said. “I missed some shots in the first half, but my teammates stayed with me. I owed them.”
Conant knew it was in a battle.
“They're a really good team, a smart team, a hard-nosed team that's well coached,” McCormack said. “They outplayed us and outcoached us in the first half.
“We're still a young team and not at full capacity yet,” he said.
That capacity will be one player short for the rest of the season. Senior Kyle Bradley suffered a non-basketball-related Achilles tendon tear and underwent surgery for that injury.