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York extends busy weekend to beat WW South

Playing three games in less than 24 hours, the last thing York's boys basketball team needed was overtime.

So guess what happened Saturday night?

In their second game of the day the Dukes - of course - needed overtime to beat Wheaton Warrenville South 41-39 and advance into the semifinals of the WW South MLK Tournament.

Sam Walsh muscled in a basket to put York (11-6) ahead 40-38 with 2:08 left in the extra period, and the score stayed there until WW South (13-4) split a pair of free throws to make it 40-39 with 3.3 seconds left. Walsh grabbed the rebound off the miss of the second attempt and split his own free throws with 0.7 seconds left to account for the 41-39 final.

There were 10 lead changes and five ties in the game, which was expected from two teams playing like mirror images. The unwanted overtime was also no surprise.

"Every possession counted," Walsh said. "They play great defense, and that's one of our strengths too. But we had confidence in our offense. We just played real well as a team."

After a back-and-forth first half that saw WW South scored 18 of its 20 points on 3-pointers, the Tigers opened a 29-24 lead after three quarters on a Jake Healy buzzer-beater. That kind of margin seemed gigantic at the time, but York erased it by midway through the fourth quarter.

John Milling hit a 3-pointer with three minutes left in the fourth quarter to give York a 36-34 lead, but Parker Robinson tied it for the Tigers with just over a minute left. WW South came up short on a game-winner at the end of regulation.

"They made one more win on a possession, whether it was offensive or defensive," said Tigers coach Mike Healy. "We had a chance to tie it. We had a chance to win it. We made some plays, but we were one short tonight."

Robinson scored 14 points to lead all scorers. Matt Brodhead added 11 points off the bench for the Tigers, who beat Huntley 65-36 in the opening round of the tournament. Erik Cohn and Nick Kosich scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, for York.

The Dukes, who beat U-High 73-51 in their first game on Saturday, play Benet, a winner over Plainfield South and Lake Forest Academy, in the tournament semifinals at 11 a.m. Monday. The Redwings beat York 42-35 in nonconference play on Dec. 5.

"We didn't have everything go our way, but we battled through," said York coach Vince Doran. "It was a game we expected. Overtime in the 40s between York and Wheaton South. That's expected."

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