Bonus victory for Conant against Batavia

Playing a bonus fifth game required some bonus time Wednesday afternoon in Elmhurst.

Staging its third fourth-quarter comeback in as many days, Conant (7-6) rallied from an 8-point deficit in the final two minutes to force overtime against Batavia on Brandon Vinson's driving layup with 30 seconds remaining in regulation.

Trailing 55-53 late in overtime, the Cougars extended the game into a second extra session on Danny Sotos' inside basket with 8 seconds left.

Conant grabbed the lead for good on a cold-blooded 3-pointer from freshman Ben Schols - his only shot attempt of the game - and escaped with a thrilling 61-58 double-overtime victory over Batavia (9-6) to claim the consolation championship in the 41st annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York High School.

"Hopefully it was a grow-up game for us," said Conant coach Tom McCormack, whose team improved to 6-2 in games decided by 5 points or less this season. "Four of the five games here (at York) were really, really close. We've been on the other side of it but we seem to be turning that around."

Third-year varsity player Danny Sotos had a team-high 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Cougars, who received significant contributions from several others, including Chris Dolce (13 points), Kyle Bradley (8 points, 7 rebounds), Vinson (14 points) and Schols.

Prior to his game-tying layup in regulation, Vinson canned a 3-pointer with 1:45 left as the Cougars trimmed the deficit to 49-44.

Dolce, who scored 10 fourth-quarter points, also hit a 3-pointer from the corner nearly a minute later to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 50-49.

"Things didn't look great for us in the third quarter," said McCormack, whose team was outscored 20-9 in the third period. "We had to dig deep and find it.

"Danny (Sotos) was huge with a double-double. Kyle (Bradley) had some huge putbacks. Brandon (Vinson) coming off the bench was enormous for us, especially when Jimmy Sotos fouled out."

"I think it's experience," Danny Sotos said when asked of the determining factor in the late comeback. "If we would have played that game two weeks ago - down 8 with 2 or 3 minutes left - we would have lost by about 15. Everybody is starting to work as a team."

Batavia, which received a 21-point performance from junior all-tournament selection Canaan Coffey, scored the first 9 points of the third quarter to turn an 18-16 halftime deficit into a 25-18 lead.

The run included a pair of 3-point baskets from Coffey and another 3-pointer from Danny Pieczynski (8 points, 4 assists). It was a harbinger of things to come for the Bulldogs, who connected on 6 of their 8 three-point attempts during their 20-9 third-quarter surge.

"They torched us with some 3s," said McCormack, whose team enjoyed a 37-24 rebounding advantage.

Kamontez Thomas added 8 points for the Bulldogs, while juniors John Fitch and Carter Eberhardt came off the bench to score 6 points apiece.

Batavia hurt its own cause at the free-throw line, misfiring on 10 of 20 fourth-quarter foul shots. The Bulldogs made just 2 of 8 free throws during the final two minutes of regulation.

"People might say make the free throws but we did let up 24 fourth-quarter points," said Batavia coach Jim Nazos. "That's not what we want to do. As a team, we're going to point to that.

"It didn't end the way we wanted it to but there was a lot of good coming out of this tournament."

Coffey, who set a tournament record with 22 3-point baskets (in 5 games), agreed with his coach.

"This is where we wanted to be," said Coffey. "We feel good as a whole about how we're doing right now."