Cannella, St. Viator rise up against Conant
A year ago, St. Viator's Sal Cannella was concentrating on basketball, hoping to earn a college scholarship. But after struggling last year as a junior, Cannella turned his sights on football.
Cannella had a terrific season as a wide receiver for the Lions last year. He earned all-area honors and recently agreeing to a scholarship to Scottsdale Community College.
But after his performance on the basketball court Tuesday at the Barrington sectional, Cannella may want to look at all his options.
Cannella was unstoppable, scoring a career-best 33 points to lead St. Viator past Conant 55-40.
The victory moved the fifth-seeded Lions into the sectional final for the second time in the last three years. St. Viator will meet the winner of Wednesday's other sectional semifinal between Lake Park and Palatine on Friday at 7 p.m.
Cannella's performance was so dominant, it led one college coach to offer him a scholarship right after the game.
"I just had a lot of motivation to help my team make history," said Cannella, a 6-foot-6 senior who has averaged 12 points and 7 rebounds this year. "I grew up with all those guys at Conant so I had some extra motivation to do well."
St. Viator coach Quin Hayes appreciated what he got from Cannella.
"That was clearly his best game of the season," said Hayes, who is in his first year as head coach after being an assistant the last two years for the Lions. "I really attribute it to all his hard work in practice. He has put in a tremendous amount of extra work, and it all paid off."
Cannella was also a force defensively. He had to guard Conant's 6-10 Jordan Hughes, who was coming off one of his best games of the season last Friday. After Hughes scored on Conant's first possession, he was shut out the rest of the game.
"We always stress defense," Hayes said. "And Sal did a great job on all of their big men."
Meanwhile, on the offensive end, Cannella, who finished 14 of 17 from the field with 5 rebounds and 2 blocks, was using his footwork to avoid Hughes and 6-7 Ryan Davis.
Cannella had a pair of 3-point plays and added a basket as St. Viator (19-9) led 11-8 after the first quarter.
With Cannella forcing Conant to sag on him in their zone defense, it opened the floor for the Lions' outside shooting. Pat McNamara and Nick Ferrante found themselves open and each drained a 3 as St. Viator opened up a 21-10 lead with 4:00 left in the first half.
"Their zone was really expanded early," said McNamara, who hit a pair of 3s and finished with 7 points. "But when Sal gets it going like that, you just feed him."
Conant (19-10) scored 6 unanswered points to close to 21-16. But the Lions fought the Cougars off and took a 25-18 lead at the half.
St. Viator blew the game open midway through the third quarter, with Cannella leading the charge.
With the Lions leading 26-21, Cannella had a putback off a miss by Kevin Monson to ignite an 8-0 run that was highlighted by a 3 from Danny Walsh to give the Lions a 34-21 lead with 2:31 left in the third quarter.
From there, Monson helped protect the lead with his ball-handling on the top. When the ball did get down low, Cannella was either putting it in with another layup or hitting a pair of soft 15-footers.
"I just wanted to protect the ball when we had the lead," Monson said. "I knew he (Cannella) had it in him all year. Tonight was his night and I felt like everything he threw at the basket went in."
Conant coach Tom McCormack said that Cannella's play was the difference.
"We never got a handle on Cannella," McCormack said. "He just torched us. He torched us going inside going to the hole and we even had two people guarding him at times."
McCormack said that he thought he his team had some opportunities.
"We had a lot of good looks close to the basket," McCormack said. "I think with our young guys, it was just a matter of playing in this environment. I feel bad for our seniors, but I think our young guys learned a lot today."
Danny Sotos led Conant with 9 points. Kyle Bradley had 8 points, Jimmy Sotos 7 points and Brandon Vinson 6 points for the Cougars.