Kochera, St. Viator open with big win over Conant

St. Viator's Connor Kochera said that he couldn't wait for this season to get going.

"I'm just super excited for my senior year," said the 6-foot-5 guard. "I've been looking forward to it since last year really."

Kochera made sure that the Lions' start to the season was a successful one, putting up a game-high 22 points as Viator scored a 64-42 boys basketball victory over Conant at its own Thanksgiving tourney.

Viator's defense cracked down in the third quarter, getting steal after steal to break the game open.

"For the most part, it was good tonight," said Lions coach Quin Hayes of the season-opening win. "You really don't know what you have until a month into the season to be honest with you, and what pieces fit together, but we did some good things."

Junior guard Devin Ellis led the Cougars with 14 points.

"We struggled," said Conant coach Jim Maley. "Going into the game, I (knew) we were going to be outmatched with size and athleticism, but what we can't be outmatched with is toughness and the basketball IQ aspect. I felt like we were very limited in those areas today."

Viator opened up an early 14-point lead, but visiting Conant fought back in the second quarter and cut into the deficit - and when Ellis made a steal and finished with a dunk, the Cougars trailed only 32-23 at halftime.

Then Kochera opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer and after steals from teammates Michael Campagna (2) and Owen Hickey led to some easy buckets, Viator led 46-28.

"We're striving to become a great defensive team," said Kochera. "That's been the emphasis at the start of the season and I think we're getting there. Some of our juniors got their jitters out in the first half and played great in the second half and that was nice to see."

Viator kept the pressure on late in the third stanza and when Hickey got another steal at half-court and fed Adan Harrington for a layup, the advantage for the home team was 54-31.

Matthew Geary came off the bench to score 4 points for Viator in the final quarter, while Nick Guemraoui and Ryan Blakely hit fourth quarter 3-pointers for Conant.

Harrington scored 13 for the Lions, while Campagna added 10.

"We've got some senior leadership," said Hayes. "Connor, Pags (Campagna), Hickey, the amount of ball pressure they can put on the perimeter can really do some things for us, and we saw that in the second half."

Abaz Karafili had two 3s for Conant en route to 8 points, while Cougars sophomore Michael Sheehy score 9 points on three 3-pointers.

"Sheehy played tough," said Maley. "I thought he came ready to play, and that's one of the positives for me tonight. We're young and there's a lot of opportunity to grow, and he proved he belongs."