Conant closes door on Elk Grove with defense
Conant caught Elk Grove in its 1-2-2 web and trapped the Grenadiers 47-30 Friday in the Class 4A regional final in Hoffman Estates.
Top-seeded Conant (21-6) will meet crosstown rival Hoffman Estates in the Fremd sectional semifinal on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Thirteenth-seeded Hoffman Estates (13-17) stunned Grayslake North 67-62.
The Cougars won their second consecutive regional title and the 12th in coach Tom McCormack's 29-year career.
And the veteran coach, who preaches defense like he was at the pulpit, may be hard-pressed to find a better defensive performance than his team provided on Friday.
"How am I going to find anything to complain about?" McCormack said. "We limited them one shot and it was usually contested. When you do that, you are very tough to beat."
Conant's zone defense, which appears to be tougher and tougher to crack each game for its opponents, kept Elk Grove (19-10) from getting inside.
And when the Grens did, Conant's big men - 6-foot-9 Ryan Davis, 6-8 Michael Downing and 6-7 Chima Oduocha, along with Jimmy Sotos and Ben Schols, combined to block 10 shots.
Not to be outdone, the top of the zone with Sotos, Schols, Brandon Vinson, Danny Ranallo and C.J. Deshazer helped force 14 turnovers and the entire team limited Elk Grove to 25 percent (11-of-44) from the field.
"There were five guys out there playing as one," McCormack said. "We work on our 1-2-2 quite a bit. We work on our man defense too, if we ever need it. But the kids are in a comfort zone playing defense right now."
Conant didn't even come close to needing the man-to-man alignment on Friday.
The Cougars scored the game's first 8 points and never looked back.
They led 28-11 at the half and would have held Elk Grove under double digits at the break had Bradley Hubley not drained a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer.
While the defense was spectacular, the Conant offense was cruising along thanks to this year's Northwest all-area team captain, Sotos.
The junior finished with 20 points and at times, equaled the entire Elk Grove output.
"We had a lot of defensive stops," Sotos said. "And we executed on offense. We wanted to finish better than we did last year, when we lost in the first game of the sectionals. This is just one step to get to our ultimate goal."
Davis was a force on both ends of the court as well.
He finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
"We really never game them any second-chance opportunities," Davis said. "We got out on the shots that teams usually get from the corner against our zone."
Elk Grove, which shared the Mid-Suburban League East title with Prospect, finally found some room on the floor late in the game.
But by then, Conant had the regional title firmly in its grasp.
"They had a lot to do with that by the way they played defensively," Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman said. "We got the ball in the right spot but their length definitely hurt us.
"But we had a great season - we were MSL East co-champs and we won 19 games. I am really proud of our kids."
Joey Gatziolis led Elk Grove with 11 points while Hubly had 8 points for the Grens, who will graduate all five of their starters.
Vinson and Oduocha each had 5 points for Conant, which now must get ready to play Hoffman Estates for the third time.
The Cougars won both of the meetings, including a tough 38-31 victory two weeks ago at Hoffman where Conant had to rally in the fourth quarter for the victory.
"We are fully aware of how dangerous they are," McCormack said. "I think it will be a dogfight."