Conant downs Von Steuben

For Conant's boys basketball team, its bench could not have picked a more opportune time to step up.

Fighting a spunky effort Monday night at home from the Chicago Public League's Von Steuben, which played well above its 8-21 record, the Cougars broke the game open on the play of its bench, getting 14 points from forward Kaan Aygar and sharpshooting from the perimeter from Brandon Blakely in registering a 66-50 win in the opening round of the Class 4A Conant regional.

For the Cougars (12-15), those performances, plus solid floor games off the bench from Zack Chenault and Ranier Roque, proved particularly gratifying.

"We needed it too," said high scorer Rajat Mittal (17 points). "It was the right time to have them play like that. You really admire them."

Head coach Jim Maley could not have agreed more. "Kaan Aygar, he came in, he hadn't been playing much," said the Cougars' coach. But, he noted of Aygar, "He'd been dominating in practice," enough so to earn the shot Monday night.

With starting forward Devon Ellis dominating but getting in foul trouble, Aygar replaced him in period two. After Jonathan Kolev hit a 3-pointer and Mittal a putback, Aygar went to work, scoring twice inside to give Conant its first double-digit lead. An Anthony Wachal 3 and a Mittal drive at the buzzer kept it at 9 at the break.

Kolev's pair of 3-pointers got Conant going in period three and Von Steuben (8-22) never got the lead under 10 again despite some hustle from Olamide Ajiboye (14 points), Chijoke Nwosu (12) and John Hays (12), as Von Steuben played an entirely underclass lineup.

Aygar closed the quarter with a pair of inside buckets to push the lead out to 47-30 and Blakely hit a 3 cold off the bench to make it 50-31.

"He's definitely our sharpshooter," said Mittal, grateful for his contribution off the bench complementing fellow perimeter aces Wachal and Kolev. Conant hit 9-of-15 3-pointers, 3 for Kolev and 2 apiece from Blakely and Wachal. Blakely's were the only two shots he took.

Still, that might not be enough Wednesday night when the Cougars have to respond at home against sectional top-four seed Glenbrook South.

"They're a disciplined team," Mittal said. "We have to beat them at their game."

Especially on defense, where the Cougars only took one charge while committing several. "I'm sure we'll address that in practice," said Mittal.

"I wouldn't mind (taking) a charge more often," said Maley. "We're going to have to do a better job."