Conant's scoring streaks sink Palatine
Two timely scoring spurts were enough for Conant to get past pesky Palatine 48-39 in Mid-Suburban West boys basketball Friday night.
The Cougars (6-3, 3-0) used scoring runs midway through the first quarter and to start the third quarter to keep the host Pirates at bay.
"It was good for us to get off to a good start tonight," said Conant senior forward Sean Bourke, who led Conant with 13 points and 7 rebounds. "It was our first road win, and a conference win, so that was good for us."
"We should be able to put together good spurts like this," said sophomore forward Mitch Tednes, who added 11 points. "We received some good, balanced scoring tonight. Everyone pitched in. We wanted to play hard and be aggressive."
Palatine (1-7, 0-3) led 6-4 after a 3-pointer from Roosevelt Smart (14 points) with 4:58 left in the first quarter.
The Cougars then went on a 11-0 run over the next 3:28 to build a 15-6 lead. Jeff Copher started the run with two baskets and Joe Dahm finished the streak with a 3-point play. Tednes scored the last two baskets of the quarter to give the Cougars a 19-9 lead.
Conant only converted 4 free throws in the second quarter and committed 6 of its 20 turnovers.
"We did not capitalize on their turnovers," said Pirates coach Eric Millstone, "and that told the story of the game. Conant came out with a lot of energy and has us back on our heels. They dictated the pace of the game. We're not taking advantage of our offensive possesions early in the game."
Tom Hauert (10 points) hit a 3-pointer to start the second half for Palatine, which cut the Conant lead to 23-19. But the Cougars answered with an 8-0 spurt.
Tednes connected on a 3-point play and then put in a offensive rebound. Bourke hit a 3-pointer and Conant led 33-21. Palatine got no closer than 40-33 with 3:02 left in the game. John Millin, in his second game back from a injury, scored 11 points for Palatine.
Sophomore guard Joey Ranallo scored all 8 of his points including 6 of 7 free throws in the final frame for Conant to help hold off Palatine.
"Palatine came at us with different defensive looks," said Conant coach Tom McCormack. "I thought we handled their third-quarter trap pretty well when we built the lead. Our defense played well and that's been our mainstay. It's been keeping us in games.
"Now we're through a third of our season, and we can only say were young for so long. We had 20 turnovers tonight and 10-12 would have been acceptable."
McCormack likes what he sees in Bourke and Tednes.
"We're asking Bourke to do a awful lot," said McCormack. "He's trying to get the others going. He's concerned about others, and as the season goes on that will pay dividends.
"Mitch is very unselfish also but we know he can score. We just have to get him in position under the basket to get him the ball. We're going to be a good team as the season goes on."