Can York repeat history, prevent Lyons from a three-peat of it?

Lyons Township is one of the biggest surprises of the boys basketball season in the state. The tradition-rich program which produced former NBA all-star Jeff Hornacek and was led for years by one of the greatest coaches in state history in Ron Nikcevich has relied on a starless crew to bring a 20-0 record into a West Suburban Silver matchup on Friday night against a solid York team in Elmhurst.

History lesson No. 1: Lyons' state titles in 1953 and 1970 were accomplished without a blemish in the loss column. Can the Lions replicate what those great teams did? They definitely had more star power with the '53 team led by powerful Ted Caiazza inside and the '70 team fueled by the late Owen Brown and Marcus Washington.

History lesson No. 2: In an odd coincidence, it's almost 30 years to the day one of the best teams in York history hosted another unbeaten team in Proviso East, which did arrive with one of the greatest stars in IHSA history in Glenn "Doc" Rivers, who had an all-star NBA career and now coaches the Boston Celtics.
York was led by 6-7 all-stater Paul Schultz, who had a solid career at Northwestern, and had a chance to win the first meeting in Maywood but lost a 9-point lead in the final three minutes and suffered a heartbreaking 63-60 loss. How big was the rematch? There was a rare pre-sale of tickets and the 3,200-seat gym was nearly packed a half-hour before the sophomore game.
York bolted out to a big lead after three quarters as Schultz was on the way to one of his best nights and Rivers was off his usual game. But this was Proviso East and its famed and feared press and naturally, it made a late run. But York held on for a dramatic 72-70 victory as more than a few people probably had their hearing adversely affected that day.

Can the Dukes do it again like 1980? If not, maybe the Lions will like 1953 and 1970.