Dukes place two on all-conference and all-academic teams.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The York boys basketball team concluded its season with a win and a loss in the playoffs.
York opened play in its own Class 4A York regional with a 50-47 win over Naperville Central. In that game Jordan Gray and Angelo Martucci each had 14 points for the Dukes.
The Dukes then advanced to the regional semifinals where they lost 54-34 to Benet Academy.
York was the No. 14 seed in the Class 4A Hinsdale Central sectional. Naperville Central was the No. 19 seed and Benet Academy was the No. 3 seed. Wheaton North, the No. 6 seed, defeated Benet for the regional title.
“We played our best ball at the end of the year and overcame some adversity with injuries,” said York coach Vince Doran. “I was proud of how our team competed. We won four of our last six games against good competition.”
Gray and Nick Trapani earned all-West Suburban Conference Silver Division honors, while Trapani and Mark McGovern were named to the all-WSC Silver academic team.
“All of our kids got better individually as the season went on, especially our younger kids,” said Doran. “It was good experience for them playing as many minutes as they did. I feel that the future is bright for basketball at York.”
York had to come from behind to defeat Naperville Central in the regional quarterfinals.
“We were down most of the game and then we made a great run at them in the fourth quarter,” Doran noted.
Doran lauded the play of Martuccci, in particular, in that contest. “Angelo played really well,” he said. “He had a great fourth quarter and hit some really big free-throws and scored on a breakaway layup. Our kids did a nice job of hanging in there. It would have been easy to fold. Naperville was up by 10 in the fourth quarter. It was a nice comeback win.”
Doran was frank in his assessment of the Benet Academy game.
“Benet has a senior-dominated team,” he said. “They stuck it to us. It was another good lesson for us. We didn’t play our best and they were 12-for-17 from three at one point. They played well and we didn’t do a very good job getting out on them and recognizing where they were at.”
York finished the season at 14-16 overall.
Trapani, McGovern and Gray are the three seniors graduating from the team.
“We have to get healthy as well,” said Doran. “We lost two starters (Michael Pedote and Nick Kosich). We have to get them healthy. We have a lot of young kids coming back and some young kids coming up. It should be a very competitive summer.”
Doran noted Pedote was lost to injury five or six games into the season while Kosich was lost in January.
“That put a big load on Angelo Martucci in terms of ball handling because that’s what those two guys helped out with,” said Doran. “He did a really nice job and gained some great experience.”
Erik Cohn’s season will continue this week. Cohn won the Class 4A York regional 3-point shooting contest by making 11 threes. He will shoot this week at the Class 4A Hinsdale Central sectional for a chance to compete in the Class 4A state finals in Peoria at Carver Arena.
