advertisement

Sotos, Downing help Conant down Barrington

Conant's boys basketball team is finding its comfort level.

Led by Jimmy Sotos and Michael Downing, the Cougars turned up the intensity in the second quarter and pulled away from Barrington for a 68-41 Mid-Suburban West victory Saturday in Hoffman Estates.

"As the floor opened up, it really opened up for Jimmy," said Conant coach Tom McCormack said. "The more he got double-teamed, the more he escaped and he got himself and everyone else involved."

Sotos was uncanny the way he kept Barrington chasing him throughout the game.

The junior scored 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting and hit 7 shots in a row, including a pair of 3-pointers.

He drove the hoop for a couple of spectacular layups and also dished off 8 assists.

"I wasn't really thinking about it," Sotos said. "I was just trying to have us score as many points as we can to win the game. We had a good week of practice and that carried into the game."

Sotos was also able to get the ball inside to Downing, who finished with a career-best 19 points, including a huge dunk in the fourth quarter.

Downing, a 6-foot-6 junior who transferred from St. Joseph last summer, is looking very comfortable in the Conant offense.

"I have fit in very well with this group of guys," Downing said. "We play together and share the ball together and we play hard as a team. We had a big target on our back and prove that we are a good team.

Conant (12-4, 6-0), which remained on the in the West, started slowly against a Barrington team that the Cougars dispatched 50-37 just before Christmas.

Barrington (11-10, 1-5) came out hard early to erase the memories of that defeat.

With Will Reinhard (14 points) and Jackson Perkins (8 points, 7 rebounds) controlling the inside, Barrington led 20-18 a minute into the second quarter.

Conant's defense then began to take away the post game for Barrington.

And with that gone, Barrington did not score another 20 points for the next 21 points.

"They were really hurting inside early," McCormack said. "They really had us on our heels. But our guys adjusted as the game went on."

With the defense shutting down Barrington, Conant's offense went into full gear.

Led by Sotos, who scored 15 of his points in the second quarter, Conant scored 10 unanswered points on its way to a 20-3 run as Conant led 38-27 at the break.

Leading 43-31 early in the third quarter, Conant went on another 10-0 run to break the game open and lead 53-31 with 3:23 left in the third quarter.

"We just missed a lot of shots and did not execute," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker. "We thought we had some good looks, but they beat us soundly."

Ben Schols had 9 points for Conant while Brandon Vinson added 7 and Ryan Davis 5 points.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.