Huskies put clamps on Cohn, Dukes

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Updated: March 29, 2012 4:07PM

Oak Park senior Gabe Levin is having one of those seasons that all high school basketball players dream about.

This time last year he was a complete unknown. Then, as his teammate Jakari Cammon says, “He just woke up one morning and became a beast.”

Levin led the Huskies to a 57-35 win over York on Tuesday, ending the Dukes’ 13-game win streak and securing the West Suburban Conference Silver Division title for OPRF.

Levin, a 6-7 forward, scored 19 and grabbed 10 rebounds (York only had 19 boards as a team). His rise wasn’t as instantaneous as Cammon hinted at though, it came with plenty of work, all summer long.

“He was there early and staying late and just worked so hard at it,” Cammon said. “He definitely deserves it. He wasn’t anything like this last year or even in the summer. Then all of a sudden it was just there.”

Cammon played a major role in the victory himself, as he and Alex Gustafson put the clamps down on York junior David Cohn, one of the area’s most prolific scorers.

“(Cammon and Gustafson) were the MVPs of this game,” OPRF coach Matt Maloney said. “The amount of energy they spent trying to keep Cohn in check was astounding. They didn’t care about scoring or anything else. They knew they had to shut him down for the good of the team.”

Cohn finished with 14 points, shooting 5-for-13 from the field.

“We knew we had to keep him below his average,” Cammon said. “He’s a great player and very tough to guard, but we knew we could get the win if we could shut him down.”

York had tremendous difficulty even getting the ball to Cohn in the first half, and the botched attempts led to a half that featured 17 turnovers to just 17 shots from the field. The Dukes (18-9, 7-4) committed 22 turnovers in the game.

Alex Nesnidal added 13 points and Ka’Darryl Bell scored 11 for the Huskies (17-5, 9-2).

Matt DiFrancesca contributed 10 points for York.