Vinson's big plays helps Conant vanquish Palatine
Brandon Vinson is the only senior that starts for Conant's boys basketball team. So on senior night at Conant, it was only fitting that Vinson would come up with a pair of huge plays when his team needed them most.
"I feel like a leader and everyone looks up to me," Vinson said. "The expect me to play well and come up with big plays."
Vinson didn't let them down.
His two steals with three minutes to play helped his team erase a 3-point deficit as the Cougars outlasted Palatine 55-52 Friday in Hoffman Estates to keep the Cougars atop the Mid-Suburban West.
"Brandon had some huge defensive plays down the stretch for us," said Conant coach Tom McCormack, whose team improved to 13-4 and 7-0. "They had a 3-point lead and the ball, and you could tell it was coming into milking time."
Palatine (15-9, 4-3), which needed a victory to stay in the MSL West title race, played with abandon. The Pirates, who trailed by as many as 11 points midway through the second quarter, rallied to take a 46-43 on a steal and layup by Charlie Van Dyke with 4:39 to play.
After a Conant miss, Palatine had the ball, and the Pirates moved the ball around the perimeter. After Palatine ran nearly a minute off ten clock, Vinson stepped in. He stole the ball and went in for a layup and drew a foul.
"It was all intensity," said Vinson, who finished with 8 points. "They were reversing the ball and we were down 3. I just dug in and got the steal."
Vinson hit the fee throw to tie the game at 46 with 3:10 to play. But Vinson wasn't quite done. He got a hand on a bounce pass, deflecting it to teammate Ryan Davis. Conant's Jimmy Sotos followed with a pair of free throws with 2:40 to play and Conant never trailed from there.
"Credit our guys," McCormack said. "That was a gutsy second half. We had a ton on trouble trying to stay in front of them. And we did a better job of trusting each other on offense and let our offense help our defense out a little bit."
Palatine's Matt Ulrich and Jason Jarrett did a terrific job of containing Sotos in the final 2½ quarters. They limited the Cougars' leading scorer, who finished with 14 points, to just those 2 late free throws.
With Sotos under pressure, Conant needed other players to step up. And besides Vinson, there were others who got the job done for the Cougars.
Michael Downing, who has been on a tear as of late, scored 13 points. But it was his 6 blocked shots that kept Palatine off the scoreboard.
"I was just getting fed up with them scoring inside," Downing said. "Jimmy (Sotos) told me to protect the rim like it was our home and that's what I needed to do."
The Cougars also got a lift in the offensive end from Davis, who finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
"Coach told me to post up hard," Davis said. "And to make sure we get baskets because it felt like we were struggling down the stretch."
Ben Schols also came off the bench to nail a pair of free throws 33.1 seconds left that helped the Cougars stave off the Pirates.
Palatine was led by Chris Refka, who had 14 points. Johnny O'Shea had 11 points while Ulrich chipped in 8, Matt Mayer 7 and Jovone Stricker 6 points.
Palatine shot just 5-of-14 from the free throw line.
"The free throw shooting was disappointing," Palatine coach Eric Millstone said. "But that was a typical MSL West game. There were bodies on the floor and that is how the game went."