Robinson, Oswego turn it up late against Conant
This particular Day 4 match-up at the 42nd annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic between Conant and Oswego featured teams with similar characteristics.
Both teams started their seasons with Thanksgiving tournament titles.
Both teams entered tournament play in first place in their respective conferences.
Both teams had big front lines bolstered by strong point guard play, solid outside shooting and good team speed.
Both teams had experienced tough quarterfinal losses on Tuesday.
Last, but not least, each team had 9 wins.
The Panthers' Brice Robinson saw to it that his team would get win No. 10.
The 6-foot-7 senior forward scored 9 consecutive points in a three-minute span in the fourth quarter, breaking open a tight game that Oswego won 53-41 at York High School in Elmhurst on Wednesday afternoon. He finished with a game-high 24 points.
“I give all the credit to our guys for coming out and playing like we did today,” Panthers coach Matt Borrowman said. “Sometimes when you lose, it can be hard to come out and play a game like this. But we challenged our team, and as a result we have 10 wins on the year before New Year's Day.”
The contest saw both Conant (9-3) and Oswego (21-20) with 1-point leads at the conclusion of the first two quarters. But the pattern gave Cougars coach Tom McCormack cause for concern.
“At one point in the first half I noticed that we were 1-for-11 inside, with the one hoop coming from our point guard (Jimmy Sotos, who led Conant with 13 points). That created an early problem for us.”
An 8-4 run by the Southwest Prairie Conference leaders (10-2) began to tilt the contest their way at 35-29 with 25 second left in the third quarter before back-to-back lay-ups by Chima Oduocha (with 3 seconds left in the third) and Ben Schols (37 seconds into the fourth) pulled Conant (9-4) within 2 points for the last time at 35-33.
After a pair of free throws by Sotos (who will be named to the all-tournament team Thursday) drew the Cougars within 40-37, Robinson took control as part of what Borrowman called a “momentum-changing run.” The Panthers rattled off 11 straight points to put them up 51-37 with 1:38 remaining.
McCormack, whose Mid-Suburban West leaders return to action with a divisional game a week from Friday at Palatine, believes the competition the tournament brings provides benefits.
“It gives you the opportunity to make progress,” he said. “We're still working through our youth. Going up to Palatine next week will be a big challenge, but playing here gives us the chance to experience that tough competition that hopefully will make us a better team in the second half of the season.”