By Mike Miazga
Earlier in the season, the York boys basketball team suffered a tough 58-56 loss in double overtime at Downers Grove North.
The second time around though, it was the Dukes getting their hands raised after a recent 58-45 West Suburban Conference Silver Division win against the Trojans in Elmhurst.
York led 11-4 after the first quarter and 26-9 at halftime. Downers North outscored York 36-32 in the second half. The two teams combined to put up 46 points in the fourth quarter alone.
“We got off to a really good start,” said York coach Vince Doran. “We played really good defense and turned them over a little bit and created offense with our defense.”
Sam Walsh led the Dukes with 13 points and five rebounds. John Milling had 12 points, while Angelo Martucci had 11 points. Nick Kosich had seven points, four rebounds and six assists. Erik Cohn had six rebounds. York shot 60 percent from the field and 70.8 percent from two. The Dukes also hit 66.7 percent of their free throws (12 of 18) and limited Downers North to 40 percent shooting from the field while forcing 14 turnovers.
“Sam Walsh had his best game of the year,” declared Doran. “He shot 5-for-8 from the field and had 13 points. John Milling also did a great job going 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-3 from three. Angelo also had his best performance. It was a good team win.”
The win pushed York to 15-8 overall and 5-3 in the tough WSC Silver.
“We’ve been doing a good job rebounding the ball,” said Doran. “We limited Downers North to one shot most of the time. We lost to them in two overtimes at their place. We didn’t want them getting second- and third-chance opportunities. We wanted to limit them to one shot and we did that and they were contested shots, in the first half especially. We’re getting better rebounding, but we still have to get better at taking care of the ball, valuing it and treating it like gold. We’re still too loose with the ball at times.”
In earlier action, the Dukes went to Glen Ellyn and recorded a 64-57 WSC Silver win. York led 10-8 after the first quarter but trailed 25-23 at halftime. York outscored Glenbard West 17-14 in the third quarter and 24-18 in the fourth quarter to record the win.
Kosich led the Dukes with 18 points to go with three assists and two steals. He shot 5-for-8 from the 3-point line and York hit 9 of 20 threes as a team in the contest (45 percent).
Martucci added 15 points to go with six rebounds and three steals, while Nate Shockey had nine points. Cohn also had nine points to go with a team-high nine rebounds and three assists. Walsh had seven points and five rebounds. York forced 15 Glenbard West turnovers in the contest.
York faces league-unbeaten Oak Park-River Forest (away) and Hinsdale Central (home Saturday for senior night) this weekend in a pair of WSC Silver games.
“It’s a big weekend coming up for us,” said Doran. “Oak Park hasn’t lost in the league. I’m very happy where we are at. If you look at our record we’ve won six of our last eight and we’re tied for second in the league right now. We’re playing really well. We want to keep that momentum going into the playoffs.”
