Barnett-Morales, Hoffman Estates turn the tables on Conant
After losing to Conant by 10 points at home earlier this season, visiting Hoffman Estates knew it was going to be a tough game against the Cougars Friday night in this battle of crosstown rivals.
But the Hawks looked like an entirely different team this time around as they took a 38-30 lead into halftime before posting a pretty stunning 64-47 Mid-Suburban League West boys basketball victory over Conant for their first conference win of the season.
Hoffman Estates (6-13, 1-5) got a huge performance from 6-foot-6 senior Sheldon Barnett-Morales with 19 of his career-high 34 points in the first half.
The Cougars (8-10, 3-3) held a 26-25 lead early in the second quarter. But a 13-2 run by the Hawks helped stake them to the 8-point halftime lead.
Then the third quarter really turned the tables on Conant as Hoffman Estates senior guard Marquez Woodard (12 points) hit two 3-pointers before getting a basket off his own steal to cap a 21-4 run and give the Hawks their biggest lead of the game at 46-30.
"I just think they (Hoffman Estates) looked like they wanted it all game, and based on their record and beating them the last time they thought it would be the same story," said Conant coach Jim Maley of his team. "We warned them about it all week, and for whatever reason we had a couple of bad practices before today."
Barnett-Morales was pretty-much unstoppable from start to finish as he scored most of his points from close range on high-percentage shots.
One of the final backbreakers for the Cougars came when Barnett-Morales got a steal and a dunk for a 57-37 lead before his inside hoop capped a 34-11 run to make the score 59-37 with 5:18 to play.
"My coach (Luke Yanule) always talks about being strong and having grit, and we had way more energy and we were ready to play," said Barnett-Morales, whose previous career-high was 27 points. "I think it was probably our best game. We were patient, we played team ball, and we had energy."
Conant trailed 21-18 after one quarter, but behind 9 of Devon Ellis' team-high 12 points in the first half the Cougars were able to stay within striking distance of the fired up Hawks.
Conant senior Anthony Wachal had 9 points on three 3-pointers, but it wasn't nearly enough to offset the dominance of Hoffman Estates as the Hawks outscored the Cougars 13-5 in the third quarter to take a 51-35 lead into the final period.
Vatsal Pandya chipped in 6 points for the Hawks while teammate Rudra Patel added 5 points.
"I'm just really proud of our heart and not to give up and have perseverance," said Yanule, whose team hit 9 of 10 free throws. "We're playing decent basketball, we just haven't put four quarters together, and it finally came together."
Maley knew his squad just didn't have an answer for Barnett-Morales' career-night Friday.
"He (Barnett-Morales) looked like an All-American out there," Maley said. "We let him get the ball too deep, and he pretty much did whatever he wanted."
Yanule was just ecstatic that his team was able to bounce back so strongly after a pretty rough 2018-19 season so far.
"We were up nine at half against Palatine, and tonight the guys kept saying it's a 0-0 game," said Yanule. "You can't be satisfied, this team (Conant) is too good, and we never backed off."
In the first meeting, Conant beat Hoffman Estates 42-32 in a defensive struggle on Nov. 30.