York sneaks past Hersey
Monday night at the annual Ed Molitor Thanksgiving boys basketball tournament at Palatine, York's Nate Shockey showed his defensive and offensive abilities.
Shockey, who is a University of North Dakota recruit, made a key steal, was fouled, and hit two clinching free throws with eight seconds to play to preserve a 41-40 win over Hersey.
The game was a rematch of last year's 54-38 championship which the Dukes won.
"He (Shockey) got it going for us in the second half," said York coach Vince Doran. "His defense was able to create some offense for him. When he hit the three free throws in the third quarter that kind of got it going for him."
With 1:16 left in the third quarter the Dukes trailed the Huskies 24-23 in a defensive struggle. Fouled shooting from beyond the arch, Shockey hit all three shots for a 26-24 lead. Hersey junior Ben Randall (8 points, 9 rebounds) tied the game with 37 seconds left.
Tied at 30 after a Shockey basket with 5:30 left, Hersey seemed to get the momentum as Ethan Roberts (11 points) hit 2 free throws following a York turnover with 4:37 remaining. Randall followed on a basket from a nifty assist from Scott Rogowski for a 34-30 lead.
Shockey (19 points 3 assists, 4 rebounds) helped start a 9-0 run. His basket, followed by a 3-pointer from Nick Hesch, (8 points, 5 rebounds) gave York a 35-34 lead with 3:06 left.
Tim Glavan had a rebound basket which was followed by Shockey's full court layup.
Shockey missed a pair of free throws with 49 seconds left before Roberts scored on a steal with 42 ticks as Hersey trailed 39-37.
A missed shot by the Dukes and a rebound by Randall gave Hersey a chance to tie.
Shockey batted the ball, recovered it and was fouled. He calmly nailed both free throws to lead 41-37. Roberts hit a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded.
"I'm active with my hands and I like to block the passing lanes," said Shockey. "I knew those two free throws were going to go in. I felt really confident going to the line the second time. I'm happy with the results.
"Early in the game myself and my teammates had the jitters. We turned the ball over too much but our defense was there the whole game and in the fourth quarter we turned things around on offense."
Hersey showed fans that it might be a team to reckon with. The Huskies played strong defense, holding Shockey to just 4 first-half points.
"Hersey played really good defense on us," said Doran. "The game may have been ugly for a reason because both teams played solid defense."
"We're going to be all right," said Hersey coach Austin Scott. "In losing by one point you learn a lot about details pretty quick. We're going to learn a lot about this team in the next few days."
Hersey led 14-9 after the first quarter and 22-17 at halftime. Brent Wolff came off the bench hitting four 3-pointers in the first half for his 12 points.
In the other game at Palatine, Cary-Grove defeated Maine West 53-41. Ryan Weaver connected for 11 of his team-high 15 points in the third quarter to help open a 38-30 lead for the Trojans. Maine West was led by Jared Pearson's 13 points.