Special win for Conant against stubborn Palatine

It was an exciting win following a tough personal loss for Tom McCormack and his Conant boys basketball team.

After McCormack's mother and Conant's No. 1 fan Rose McCormack passed away Thursday night, the Cougars honored their beloved matriarch by holding off stubborn Palatine 58-52 Friday in Palatine.

"She was at every game of ours and supported me since I was a little kid," said junior guard Jimmy Sotos, whose older brothers played for Conant. "She would talk to me before every game. She was very special for us, so we wanted to get this one for coach."

Tom McCormack, who was on the bench for the game, said it was the place his mother would want him to be.

"It is more about the kids," McCormack said. "She was quite an athlete herself. She loved being a part of this. She hasn't been able to be here for a while because of her health. But tonight she got to see the game. As a matter of fact, I think she may have helped a little bit."

It didn't appear that Conant (10-4, 4-0) needed much help through much of the first three-plus quarters of the Mid-Suburban West contest. Conant used sound defense to build a 43-29 lead with 6:15 to play.

The Cougars limited Palatine to just 33 percent (10-of-30) and forced 14 turnovers as they appeared to be on their way to a comfortable victory.

But Palatine (11-5, 2-2) had other ideas.

The Pirates began to step up their defensive play, forcing Conant to turn the ball over. That energized Palatine's offense.

Led by Matt Ulrich, Charlie Van Dyke and Chris Refka, the Pirates hit 5 of their next 9 shots, including three 3-pointers. They were also a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line.

Palatine closed to within 54-52 on Refka's 3-pointer with 44 seconds left.

"Conant offers you a very little window inside and we didn't take advantage of it in the first half," said Palatine coach Eric Millstone. "In the second half we got some shots to go down and we started playing with some bounce."

Palatine had a chance to tie the game twice down the stretch.

After Conant's fifth turnover of the fourth quarter, the Pirates missed a contested layup.

The Cougars' Danny Ranallo hit a free throw to make it 55-52 with 21.3 seconds to play. Palatine had a final opportunity but a 3-point shot with just over eight seconds left rimmed out and Conant added free throws to preserve the victory.

"This was a gutty performance by our guys," McCormack said. "These guys are very hard to play. They are hard to stay in front of."

Sotos, who struggled over the Christmas break with his shooting at the York tournament, bounced back to lead the Cougars with 19 points.

"After the York tournament, I just stayed in the gym after practice and worked on my shot," said Sotos, who finished with four 3-pointers. "The whole week my teammates were on me to keep my shooting up. And they were looking for me tonight on the court."

Ben Scholls had 11 points, including three 3s, while Michael Downing, Chimaobim Oduocha and Ryan Davis each had 7 points. Davis also had 11 rebounds.

Ulrich led Palatine with 14 points. Van Dyke had 9 points on three 3-pointers while Refka, Matt Mayer and Jovone Stricker each had 7 points and Johnny O'Shea chipped in 6.