York 54, Glenbard West 44
In a streaky boys basketball game with Glenbard West, York got it going at the right time.
Hosting in Elmhurst, the Dukes opened the fourth quarter with an 11-1 run and went on to win 54-44 in the West Suburban Silver game Friday.
There was a Jekyll-Hyde tint to this contest between green-clad teams.
Behind Tom Judge's three 3-pointers the Dukes led 20-7 after the first quarter. Then Glenbard West forced 8 second-quarter turnovers to pace a 17-4 run for a 24-24 tie at halftime.
"We scored 20 points in the first quarter, 4 in the second," said York coach Al Biancalana. "And we kind of just gently reminded them, who are we going to be? Are we going to be that team that turns the ball over like that?"
York (12-5, 4-1) turned out to be a team that expanded on a 35-32 lead after three quarters to go up 46-33 with 2:10 left in the game and remained a half-game behind Silver leader Lyons Twp.
Glenbard West (8-7, 1-4) missed its first 10 shots from the floor with 3 turnovers thrown in during that span. York's Steve Ganser got behind the defense in transition, and Rick Aleman penetrated the half-court set for a pair of baskets and 2 free throws.
"When you miss a stretch of shots it puts so much pressure on your defense because you're constantly scrambling back in transition. That's hard," said Hilltoppers coach Tim Hoder.
York made it that way for Glenbard West's 6-foot-8 John Shurna, who led all players with 21 points, plus 13 rebounds and 6 blocks.
Biancalana started in man-to-man defense but switched to a zone for the crucial stretch.
"You're going to stay in it until they hit a shot, and we were fortunate that we forced them into some really long looks," the coach said.
"We've got Johnny," Glenbard West's Bryan Emmanuel said, "but when they're shutting down John we have to make our shots. And I guess we didn't make our shots today in the third and fourth quarter, and it just hurt us."
Emmanuel, whose grit fueled the Hilltoppers' second quarter, had 9 points and 2 steals. York was led by Judge with 19 points, Ganser with 17 and Aleman with 11.
"It was amazing how we were still in the game," Judge said of the second-quarter breakdown, "and if we just played how we did in the first quarter we'd be up by a lot more. And that's kind of how that fourth quarter finished up for us."