Sullivan Sinks Game-Winning Basket as York Edges Morton

When it's crunch time, and you have a money player like York's Will Sullivan, you get the ball into his hands.

Sullivan's teammates did just that as the clock wound down against Morton Wednesday night. And the 6-3 senior delivered.

He swished a 10-footer with 2.2 seconds remaining, enabling York to break a 54-54 deadlock and take a 56-54 lead.

Sullivan would nail two additional free throws with 0.6 seconds to go after the Mustangs fouled him trying to get the ball back. Those shots gave York its margin of victory, 58-54, and its second straight win at the York Thanksgiving Tournament.

"We had a play set up for their (Morton's) zone (defense), but if the play really doesn't work out, he (York coach Dominic Cannon) just said to give me the ball," said Sullivan, who finished with a team-high 20 points. "He just told me to make a play if I get it, and luckily I had the baseline, which I like to work with. I had a pull-up jump shot and it felt great coming off the hand."

"Nothing was designed. We knew we were trying to get the ball to Will, obviously," said Cannon, describing the play. "We had a little bit of a breakdown. We wanted Will to take the last shot, but the front side was crowded so we couldn't get the pass to Will in the original set. So we tried to get Will the basketball and good things happened at the end."

Several good things happened near the end of the contest for York. The Mustangs appeared as if they would start to pull away early in the fourth quarter as they built a 46-41 lead with six minutes left. However, the Dukes—who nailed eight three-pointers in the second half—rode the hot outside shooting of senior Cody Kliethermes and sophomore Dave Cohn.

Kliethermes, who pumped in 12 points—all coming from beyond the arch—hit a trey, and Cohn followed with a three of his own to put York in front, 47-46.

The game see-sawed the rest of the way as York and Morton either exchanged the lead or forced a tie seven times down the stretch. Rob Crowe's putback of a missed shot put the Dukes in front momentarily, 54-52, but Tyshawn Eaton tied it for Morton, 54-54, on a layup, leading to Sullivan's heroics.

"Rob Crowe made a huge basket off an offensive putback," Cannon said. "Being a senior, I'm so proud of him because he worked so hard. And for him to get rewarded at the end was awesome."

Cannon has been emphasizing additional offensive balance, and he got just that on Wednesday. Cohn contributed 15 points, including nine in the second quarter, which helped the Dukes take a 26-25 lead at intermission.

"I thought he did an outstanding job," Cannon said. "He ran the show; he didn't turn the ball over. He made some clutch shots for us and he gets us out of the break. He's got a high ceiling being a sophomore.

"We want to share the ball, obviously, but we also know we've got to get Will the basketball at times."

"He (Cannon) knows that I'm going to kind of do my thing offensively," Sullivan added, "but he's always getting on individual people to step up behind me because we're going to face a lot of teams that play junk defense against me, in particular. With guys like Dave Cohn, Cody Kliethermes and Mike Despinich (who also hit a three in the fourth quarter) back there, they really stepped up and got their buckets."

Frank Toohey, a 6-5 freshman, started the game for York and led the team with six rebounds.

Monday's game

York stormed out of the gates in its season-opener versus Hersey Monday night. The Dukes built a 10-0 lead at the outset and never looked back as they defeated Hersey 54-45.

"We came out hard," Cannon said. "We got a 10-point lead in the first quarter (10-0) and we held a pretty good lead the whole game."

The Dukes led 35-21 at halftime, and then started the third quarter with a 9-0 run.

"We talked about holding that lead in the third quarter," Cannon said. "It was never in jeopardy as far as the lead. We played really great half-court defense and we ran transition very well."

Sullivan poured in 27 points for the Dukes, while Kliethermes contributed 13.

"We got out early, he (Sullivan) hit a couple of three balls and got to the paint," Cannon said. "He did a lot of multiple things. Hopefully everybody starts to rally around him and help him to score as well."

York 58, Morton 54

Morton—Belcaster 3 2-2 7, Chatman 0 0-1 0, Jarosz 7 5-6 22, Lewis 2 0-0 5, Eaton 5 1-5 11, Martinez 1 0-0 2, Nava 0 0-1 0, Perez 1 0-0 2, Favela 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 8-15 54.

York—Kliethermes 4 0-0 12, Sullivan 7 4-4 20, Crowe 2 0-0 4, Worley 0 0-0 0, Cohn 5 3-3 15, Toohey 0 0-0 0, Despinich 1 2-2 5, Martino 0 2-3 2. Totals 19 11-12 58.

Three-point baskets: Morton 6 (Belcaster, Jarosz (3), Lewis, Favela), York 9 (Kliethermes 4, Sullivan 2, Cohn 2, Despinich). Total fouls: Morton 18, York 19. Turnovers: Morton 13, York 14.