Boys Basketball: Conant tops cold-shooting Buffalo Grove

Updated: December 11, 2011 12:04AM

Conant’s Josh Copher led the way with nine points and three assists to lead host Conant to a 47-36 win over Buffalo Grove Saturday night.

Copher also went 7-for-8 from the charity stripe.

Robert Hudson added nine points for the Cougars (5-2) and drilled a go-ahead, first-quarter three-pointer that gave Conant the lead for good.

“We picked our spots on the floor and knew what we had to do,” Hudson said.

Conant got rolling early, jumping out to an 8-3 lead in the first quarter. It scored only eight points in the second quarter, but held the Bison (2-5) six points.

Off of brilliant in-traffic shots by Sean Bourke and Mitch Tednes, and a buzzer-beater by Joey Ranallo at the end of the third, Conant led Buffalo Grove 27-14 going into the fourth quarter.

The Bison made a late-game surge, opening up the fourth quarter on an 11-4 run, cutting the Cougars’ lead to six.

Closing in on a late-game comeback, and a 31-25 score with less than three minutes left, Buffalo Grove committed critical fouls giving Conant 15 free-throw opportunities over the final three minutes. The Cougars converted on 13 of the shots.

Overall, Conant was 25-for-30 from the free-throw line and shot 10-for-28 from the field.

Buffalo Grove made 9 of 15 free throws and shot 11-for-25 from the field.

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