Sotos splendid for Conant against Barrington
Jimmy Sotos and Conant were focused on the basket on Thursday night and topped Barrington 50-37 in the Mid-Suburban West boys basketball game.
Sotos found a way to score from all over the court, draining five 3-pointers to finish with a career-high 30 points on 10-of-13 shooting.
"I was taking what the defense gave me," said Sotos, who was 4-for-6 from outside the arc. "I saw a lot of openings and my teammates were finding me. They were giving me spots where I could make open shots and they were getting me the ball."
The win broke an early three-way tie for first in the West.
Conant and Barrington came into conference play undefeated along with Fremd.
Conant (5-1, 3-0) remained atop the West along with Fremd, which beat Hoffman Estates.
"We were very cognizant that this is a tough place to play," said Conant coach Tom McCormack. "We got off to a slow start offensively, but defensively we got it going pretty well. But then Jimmy just went off."
Sotos and Barrington's Ben Weber, who finished with 19 points, matched each other point for point early in the game.
But when Conant's defense began to smother Weber in the second quarter, Sotos got it going.
Sotos took 15 points to the locker room at the break as the Cougars led 19-14 at the break.
A driving basket by Sotos gave Conant a 30-19 lead with 3:47 left in the third quarter.
Barrington (5-3, 1-1) began to pressure the ball and it paid huge dividends.
The Broncos hit two quick baskets on their way to a 10-2 run that cut the lead to 32-29 on a free throw by Ethan Small with 4:04 to play.
"That's a credit to our kids," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker. "They just kept getting after it."
Sotos used his playmaking skills to help turn the tide.
He drove to the hoop and then dished to the right corner where he found a wide-open Ben Schols, who connected for a huge 3-pointer.
"Jimmy did a great job of finding me," said Schols, who finished with 5 points. "It was a huge confidence-builder for me."
It ignited a 6-point run that ended with a steal and layup by Sotos to make it 38-29 with 2:35 to play. Barrington never get closer than 7 points thanks to a perfect 12-of-12 free throw shooting by the Cougars. Brandon Vinson made 8 of them.
"I though our team was really stalwart, the way they played defense," said McCormack, whose team held Barrington to 26 percent (11-of-43). "Keeping this team under 40 is a chore. I know our guys really battled out there."
Tucker said Sotos was tough to stop Thursday.
"They made enough shots tonight and that gave them some separation," Tucker said. "Sotos is hard to get the ball out of his hands and he creates offense for everybody."