Cohn's 32 sinks St. Charles N.

There have been some great nicknames given to basketball players throughout history Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson, Gary "The Glove" Payton, and Paul "The Truth" Pierce are just a few that come to mind.

After junior David Cohn's performance in the second half of York's 61-56 nonconference triumph over host St. Charles North Saturday night, perhaps the moniker, "In the Zone Cohn" is a fitting one.

The 6-2 guard dropped 27 of his game-high 32 points on the North Stars (13-14) in the second half, including 4 of his 5 3-point baskets, to help the Dukes (20-8) overcome a 21-19 halftime deficit on the way to their 15th win in 16 games.

"I kind of got in the zone," said Cohn, who tallied 15 points during the Dukes' 19-1 run that enabled them to open a 41-28 lead early in the fourth quarter. "My shots started falling for me and that gave me a ton of confidence."

Prior to his offensive explosion, Cohn had admittedly struggled to find his game during a 5-point opening half that also saw him land in quick foul trouble.

"I didn't play as smart as I should have in the first half," said Cohn. "Coach (Tom Kleinschmidt) did a good job of sitting me out and telling me what I needed to do better. I was playing too fast and rushing myself."

Jake Rzeszutko added 15 points for the Dukes, who connected on 22-of-31 free throws 20 of them coming in the second half.

But it was Cohn's play that caught the attention of North Stars coach Tom Poulin.

"He's a good basketball player, and he got hot," said Poulin. "If you give him any space, chances are that it's going in. You pray for a miss he's that good."

It was a tale of two halves for the North Stars, who were attempting to climb above the .500 mark for the first time this season.

Senior center Kyle Nelson (20 points), who scored 16 of the North Stars' 21 first-half points, including 10 in the opening quarter, didn't take a single shot in the third quarter and only added 4 more points the rest of the way.

"That's how we wanted to start the game," Poulin said of getting Nelson several early touches. "When he's dominating like that, you would think we'd continue that way. They (the Dukes) did a better job guarding him with two or three guys but we didn't do a good enough job executing to give him the ball.

"I was a little disappointed with the decision-making offensively," added Poulin. "We stopped realizing what we have inside."

Kleinschmidt knows what he's got in Cohn, who finished 11-of-14 at the foul line.

"I'm spoiled," said the Dukes' coach. "His biggest problem is he gets too amped up and tries to do too much. When he slows down and takes a breath, he's a bad boy."

Sophomore guard Alec Goetz tried to keep the North Stars in it with 12 fourth-quarter points all on 3-pointers while Quinten Payne added 11.

"He can shoot the basketball," Poulin said of Goetz. "We've been waiting for him to knock down some shots but it was disappointing that we had to resort to launching 3-pointers to stay close."