Shockey scores 32 as York defeats Glenbard West
Nate Shockey doesn't lack confidence.
There wasn't a doubt in York coach Vince Doran's mind, either, who he wanted with the ball in the final minutes of the Dukes' game at Glenbard West on Friday night.
His senior guard scored a game-high 32 points to lead York to a 50-38 victory over Glenbard West in West Suburban Conference Silver Division action.
Shockey, a North Dakota commit, scored 19 points after halftime, thwarting any rally attempt from the Hilltoppers.
"I wanted the ball in my hands, no doubt," Shockey said. "I knew any free throws I took, especially at the end of the game when they're tough were going in."
Shockey and teammate Jeff Grace III not only combined for 46 of the 50 points York (6-1, 2-0 West Suburban Silver) scored, but the two finished Friday night a remarkable 19 for 23 from the free-throw line. The duo scored all 28 second-half points for York.
Grace finished with 14 points on with 10 of those coming from the foul line.
Doran couldn't speak highly enough of his guards' effort to pick up an important road conference victory against a quality opponent.
"Nate was great. He's a special player," Doran said. "I'm pretty tough on him to be honest. He takes coaching exceptionally well. He's a super athlete ... he can do it all out there. He shoots it well, handles it well and he's a great competitor."
"Jeff just seemed to make timely play after timely play for us tonight. Every time Glenbard West got any momentum, (Jeff) would make a defensive play. He knocked down his free throws tonight, also, which was huge.
York opened the game in a 1-2-2 half-court trap that stifled the Hilltoppers (5-1, 0-1) for much of the first half. It wasn't until Aidan Murphy's 3-pointer off the bench with 1:34 remaining in the first quarter that Glenbard West scored, which saw it already with a double-digit deficit, at 14-3.
Hilltoppers coach Jason Opoka wanted to see a much more aggressive start, but a lot of the pace had to do with York's immediate setup of its trap on each Glenbard West possession.
"We didn't start in stack mode," Opoka said. "That led to a lot of outside shots for us, combined with turnovers. That gave them a lot of easy, transition buckets early on that got them in a flow and rhythm. I thought our half-court defense was OK, but offensively, they just completely took us out of what we wanted to do."
Braden Huff led Glenbard West with 14 points, which included a 10-0 run, by himself, to draw the Hilltoppers back within 22-19 early in the third quarter. Murphy added 12 for Glenbard West on four 3-pointers.
However, Grace followed Huff's last bucket with a steal and layup, igniting an 11-4 York run to jump back ahead by double digits.
"We worked together really well as a unit tonight," Grace said. "I felt like our defense gave us a lot of momentum. Defense always wins championships and I thought that made the difference tonight. We stayed very composed tonight and handled adversity really well and got the job done."