Sullivan sparkles as York handles Palatine

Will Sullivan's return to the court after having to miss three games due to a right calf injury was just the tonic York needed.

The host Dukes rode a 22-point, 6-rebound and 5-assist performece from their star senior guard in whipping Palatine 66-46 in the opening round of play at the 37th annual Jack Tosh Tournament on Monday night

“It was great and a lot of fun to get back on the court,” said Sullivan. “I started to practice on Thursday and I was just trying to get my wind back. At times tonight I was a little gassed. But everyone was finding the open man. We like to be a defensive team,and tonight we got back at it.”

The Dukes (5-5) wasted little time in getting separation from the Pirates.

York led 5-2 early, then went on a 13-2 spurt to lead 18-4 with 2:04 left in the first quarter. Cody Klietheremes scored 8 of his 11 points in the quarter. Sullivan and David Cohn (11 points) scored 6 each in the quarter as York led 21-6.

Palatine (5-6) tried to rally and pulled to within 35-24 after a putback from John Millin (17 points) with :35 left for the half, but the Pirates trailed at the break 37-24.

Palatine had pulled to within 11 at 43-32 when Sullivan connected on a 4 point play which sparked a 11-0 run for a 54-32 York lead.

“They have some really good outside shooters,” said Palatine coach Eric Millstone of the Dukes' 9 3-point baskets. “We would creep back, but then we could not get any defensive stops when we needed to.”

Peter Bony followed Millin with 13 points and 6 rebounds for Palatine.

Mike Despinich scored 10 points for York, which will play South Elgin at 7:15 p.m. today in the championship bracket.

“We had a tough stretch of games with out Sullivan,” said Duke coach Dominic Cannon. “I was happy with the high energy we had out there. We changed up our defense a few times, and I usually don't like to do that. It paid off with some really good defense and steals. I think the other players learned to play with Will out.”