Boys Basketball: Shutdown ‘D’ keeps Lyons’ streak alive

Updated: February 3, 2012 11:45PM

Tom Kleinschmidt was known as a shooter during his playing days at DePaul.

But it’s the first year York coach’s emphasis on the defensive end of the floor that has the Dukes on an incredible hot streak.

Holding host Lyons Township (8-11, 4-4 in the WSC Silver) to 37 percent shooting from the floor and forcing 16 turnovers, the Dukes (17-7, 6-3) ran their win streak to 12 games in a row Friday with a 59-50 win.

“Everything goes to the kids,” Kleinschmidt said. “I’ve played on college and professional teams where if you start 5-7, players might have put their heads down and quit.

“They kept working, they believed in me and I believed in them, and we changed some philosophy stuff in midseason which is another phenomenal feat I think. They have confidence, share the ball and they guard. I don’t know where they got that from, because I didn’t guard (as a player).”

The solid backcourt of David Cohn (25 points, four assists), Jake Rzeszutko (11 points, six assists, four steals) and Matt DiFrancesca (15 points) did much of the damage for York at LT.

“This feels great,” Cohn said. “Coach Kleinschmidt gave us a great game plan telling us what to do defensively, switching it up from 2-3 to man to man so they couldn’t get too comfortable on offense.”

With York up 39-33 after three quarters, Cohn scored 13 points in the fourth quarter (including 8-of-10 free throws) to keep LT at bay. DiFrancesca had struck for 11 points in the opening quarter to put the Dukes up 22-13.

“Di Fran was tremendous,” Cohn said. “That was key to get off to a hot start shooting the ball and setting the tone.”

The Lions answered the early York barrage thanks to guard Jarryd Heath (13 points), who came off the bench to score 11 points during a 19-10 run that drew LT within 28-26. The York lead was 32-27 at the half.

“Jarryd shot the ball well,” Lions’ coach Tom Sloan said. “We just didn’t get enough shots and good looks at the basket with the turnovers we had. And York is very good. Their kids are tough and play smart.”

York committed just nine turnovers on the night, five in the first three quarters.

Chris O’Reilly also scored 13 points for the Lions, eight in the fourth quarter. Matt Robare had seven points, seven rebounds and five assists.

“(York) got a few uncontested looks in the first quarter,” Sloan said. “I thought we did a pretty good job after the first four or five minutes, but ultimately we made too many unforced mistakes on offense. And at big times. We just didn’t take advantage of enough opportunities, and they have good guards who can take care of the ball and make free throws.”

York continues to take care of business in what has been a perfect 2012 portion of the season.

“It’s all chemistry,” Cohn said. “ At the beginning of the year that wasn’t where it needed to be, and now we’re getting along like you wouldn’t believe and everything’s clicking.

“Sometimes in the past we’ve let the pressure get to us, and in this game we didn’t. We kept our composure and made our free throws. I can’t say enough about how much Jake does on the court, and Frank Toohey does a great job in the post. It was a great team performance. Now we just have to keep this rolling.”

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