Dukes coach Doran happy with team’s performance at Tosh Holiday Classic.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
Looking back at the recently completed Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York, Dukes coach Vince Doran gave it a big thumbs up for his team.
“We had a real good tournament,” he said. “We picked up some good wins and hopefully we can use that momentum going into the second half of the year.”
York went 3-1 in the tournament.
“I thought we played very well defensively,” he said. “We’re still struggling at times on the offense end, but it’s been our defense that has kept us in games. We’re playing with five guys out there who are working together. That’s very good to see.”
Defensively, York has benefitted from the turnover category on the stat sheet this season. “We’ve been able to turn people over and create some offensive opportunities with our defense. That’s been real important. Even though we might struggle sometimes offensively, we’re still able to create offense with our defense. It gives us opportunities when we do that.”
Doran said another positive aspect of the 32-team tournament is the quality of competition the Dukes see each year.
“It’s very good competition,” he said. “We played four really good teams and played four different styles. It’s good for our kids to experience that.”
Doran cited strong play throughout the tournament from a host of players, including Erik Cohn, Nick Kosich, Angelo Martucci and John Milling. Kosich was named to the all-tournament team.
“They all played well,” said Doran.
York was 8-5 overall through late last week and had a 1-1 West Suburban Conference Silver Division mark with the bulk of its conference slate ready to be played in 2018.
“I’m very happy with where we are,” said Doran. “This is the type of team that is going to get better as the season goes on. We have some inexperience out there, but we are gaining with each game. We’re going to keep moving in the right direction and I think we have the ability to do that.”
Through the first 13 games, Kosich was leading the team in scoring at 12.2 points per game. Cohn was second at 10.1, while Martucci was right there at 9.2 points per game. Nate Shockey was averaging 6.7 points and Sam Walsh was at 6.3.
Walsh was leading the team in rebounding with Milling, Martucci, Cohn and Kosich all right there as well.
Martucci was tops in assists, while Kosich was second in that category. Kosich was leading the team in steals with 25, while Martucci had 24. Milling and Walsh were tied for the team lead in charges taken with three each.
Kosich was the team leader in 3-pointers made with 27 (37 percent). Cohn was second with 18 (34.6 percent), while Shockey was third with 12 (30.8 percent).
Cohn was leading the team in free throws with 21 of 25 made (84 percent). Milling had made 12 of his first 13 (92.3 percent) and Shockey was 20 of 27 (74.1 percent). York was shooting 40.9 percent from the field as a team, 33.3 percent from the 3-point line and 67.5 percent from the free-throw line. York also was a plus-70 in scoring differential compared to its opponents through 13 games (687-617 in points).
