Conant 61, Grant 44
Finish or be finished.
That was the basic premise for Chris Hoffman and his Conant senior teammates at halftime of its Class 4A boys basketball regional semifinal.
The second-seeded Cougars missed 15-of-20 shots inside the 3-point arc -- most from point-blank range -- to add fuel to No. 16 Grant's hopes of an upset Tuesday night at Perry Gymnasium in Hoffman Estates.
But the 6-foot-5 Hoffman was perfect in 6 second-half layup attempts and had a career-high 17 points as Conant (20-6) pulled away in the final five minutes 61-44.
"The big guy was tough down low," said senior Curtis Oler, who had 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting and two 3-pointers for Grant (16-12).
Tommy Sotos was also tough outside with 19 points and four 3s as the Cougars won 20 games for the 11th time. They'll go for their 15th regional title at 7:30 p.m. Friday against tonight's winner of No. 7 Schaumburg and No. 10 Hoffman Estates.
Getting there wasn't easy. Neither was Hoffman's career night as he missed 7 of 9 shots in the first half.
"That's what coach (Tom McCormack) kept harping on," said Hoffman, who had 9 of the Cougars' 27-14 rebound edge. "Every single time he'd take me out he'd say, 'Are you going to finish?'
"He asked me again and I said yes and he said, 'Get in there.'"
Grant's first-half block party of 2 by sophomore callup Travis Stefanowski and one each by Oler and Gilbert Sheehan had a big effect.
"We started getting tentative," Hoffman said.
"The first half we couldn't get it to drop," Sotos said. "We'd get around the basket and we were just timid."
Grant's 2-2-1 three-quarter court zone press was also causing trouble. Oler banked in a running 3 off a turnover at the halftime buzzer to cut the deficit to 23-22.
"It was a good motivator and it stuck with us through the third quarter," Oler said.
"Our main concern was taking care of the ball," McCormack said. "We had some pretty careless turnovers (17) that were momentum-killers for us and momentum-builders for them."
Grant had 22 turnovers and Conant guard Jeff Keegan's steal and weave through the defense led to 1 of his 6 assists to Hoffman for a layup to end the third quarter.
A 3 by Oler and reverse layup by Mike Shields (21 points) got Grant within 45-41. But after Oler missed a 3, Sotos hit one to start a 16-3 burst in the final 4:25.
Tony Rizzo scored 11 points and Tim Gilhooly added 10 for Conant.
"To go toe-to-toe with a team like Conant says a lot about our kids," said Grant coach Phil Ralston. "They certainly have nothing to hang their heads about."