AURORA -- As York guard Will Sullivan's second bonus free throw fell off the rim into the waiting arms of Oswego East's Jordon Harris and Zach Pearson, the two Wolves couldn't figure out which one would actually grab the ball. As a result, the rebound ping-ponged off both players and rolled out of bounds.
The moment itself didn't mean much in York's 62-54 Waubonsie Valley Regional semifinal victory Wednesday night -- the Dukes were up by seven with just 17 seconds left. But the miscue, and the ensuing looks of exasperation by Harris, Pearson and Wolves coach Jason Buckley, illustrated the Wolves' inability to rebound throughout the contest.
York (19-8) cleaned the glass with 32 boards to Oswego East's (17-10) 19, including a 20-7 advantage in the first half. The 13-rebound difference was key for the seventh-seeded Dukes, who held the No. 11 Wolves to just 26 percent shooting in the first half. Without second shots, the Wolves were often one-and-done on offense, leading to a small 9-0 York run in the first quarter.
"It was one of the big things that we wanted to do going in because of their athleticism," York coach Al Biancalana said of the rebounding effort. "We made a point that we had to get the first rebound. We definitely did that."
The run seemed insignificant at the time -- a 9-7 Oswego East lead was turned into a 16-7 York advantage -- but the Wolves wound up chasing those points the rest of the game.
"They out-worked us," Buckley said. "If you do things right, good things happen, and they were doing more things right than we were."
The Dukes eventually built a 33-19 halftime lead and led by as many as 16 late in the third quarter as the Wolves continued to misfire from the outside.
For the game, Oswego East was 8 of 24 from behind the 3-point line and shot 34 percent from the field overall.
Harris and a full-court press helped the Wolves get back into the game in the fourth quarter, as the guard scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the frame. A Harris layup off a Pearson (15 points) steal made it a one possession game at 51-48 with 4:08 to go, but York's Roger Coffin (12 points, 12 rebounds) snuck inside to make it 53-48 with 3:47 left.
Lionell Holmes (six points, three steals) came up with a steal near half court shortly after that play, but he couldn't keep his feet. To avoid traveling, he threw the ball into the backcourt where it was picked off by York's Steve Ganser (17 points, 10 rebounds), who took it in for a score.
That bucket gave York some breathing room at 55-48, and the Wolves weren't able to close within four the rest of the way.
"It's just too hard to come back down that deep," Holmes said. "It's easy to let a team back, but still keep control of it, and that's what they did." Class 4A Waubonsie Valley Regional
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