York’s boys basketball team made its first state tournament appearance in 59 years on Friday. The community came out.

Fans, many of them students, filled Champaign’s State Farm Center wearing bright York green.

Alternating with fans in Marist red, it looked like Christmas in March.

The scene did not go unnoticed by York senior Hunter Stepanich.

“To see so many people come down here, three-hour drive, it’s an amazing feeling,” Stepanich said. “We said before the game in our huddle ‘Just look around, this is what we dream for, to be down here, all our fans supporting us.’ It’s an amazing feeling.”

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York’s Hunter Stepanich (50) gets in the path of Marist's Adoni Vassilakis (0) as he looks to pass to an open teammate during the IHSA Class 4A boys basketball state semifinal Friday, March 13, 2026 at the State Farm Center in Champaign. (Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com/Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com)

It’s been a marvelous, improbable run for the Dukes this season. On the court, though, it was not their day.

Marist, itself making its first-ever state tournament appearance, raced out to a 17-point lead after the first quarter.

York never recovered in losing 55-38 in the first Class 4A state semifinal.

“Disappointed in the performance and what we put out there today,” York coach Mike Dunn said. “But it doesn’t take away from what these kids have done.”

York (32-5) has done well making other teams play its game and its pace with a defensive-minded approach.

But that plan unraveled quickly Friday.

York committed six turnovers in the game’s first five minutes, and eight turnovers in the first quarter. Marist, meanwhile, shot 60% in the first quarter. Marist leading scorer Charles Barnes Jr.’s first basket, in the closing seconds of the quarter, made it 21-4.

It was 35-17 by halftime.

The Dukes seemed to find their footing offensively as the game progressed, but could not put a dent in the early deficit.

“They exploited our weaknesses,” Dunn said. “We sometimes struggle with a little pressure. They got it rolling and we never recovered. They got after us with their length and athleticism and it gave us problems. We needed to take care of the ball better. It was an uphill battle.”

Marist (32-5) forced 17 turnovers for the game, scoring 23 points off of them. And it was not by accident. The Redhawks don’t have the physicality of York, or the size of the 6-foot-9 Stepanich, but made the game theirs.

“We thought they were a little bigger than us, but we thought we had some better athletes,” Marist coach Brian Hynes said. “We wanted to not let them get into their action. We wanted to pressure their ball handlers in the court.”

Kendall Meyers, a 6-foot-5 junior who started the season on the bench, was the catalyst to that defense. He scored a game-high 15 points, twice his average, and had five of Marist’s 13 steals.

“We knew we were stronger, more athletic, more violent and more physical,” Meyers said. “We just wanted to play hard, play violent and execute.”

Stepanich scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds and Jackson Rennick scored nine points for York.

York junior guard and leading scorer Joseph Lubbe, averaging 14.4 points per game on the season, scored just three on 1-for-8 shooting.

“Their length and their athleticism and their pressure in the full court,” Lubbe said, “it just made it difficult for us.”

Marist, a preseason top five team, has played as well as any team in the playoffs.

The RedHawks beat Rich by 28 on Rich’s home floor in a regional final, and easily defeated Lockport and Homewood-Flossmoor in the sectional.

Two of Marist’s three losses to Illinois opponents this season came to Benet and DePaul Prep, the state’s top two teams facing off in the other semifinal.

Marist and Benet, both members of the East Suburban Catholic Conference, will play each other for the Class 4A title Saturday in the last year of that league.

Hynes, Marist Class of 1986, was previously an assistant for 12 seasons there under Gene Nolan, now at Naperville North.

“I don’t think it’s hit me that we’re playing tomorrow night, to tell you the truth,” Hynes said. “The last few weeks have been unbelievable.”

The Dukes were still guaranteed the program’s first state trophy later Friday, when they play DePaul Prep in the third-place game.

York’s two previous state appearances, in 1962 and 1967, came when eight teams made the state tournament.

“I’m so proud of these guys right here and our group, to get where we are right now, 32-5 and with no expectations at the beginning of the season,” Dunn said. “We just came in and worked every single day. The kids bought in, we kept getting better and better, kept stacking wins, kept doing what we’ve been doing.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/my-suburban-life/2026/03/14/york-loses-class-4a-semifinal-to-marist-still-savors-1st-state-trip-in-59-years-this-is-what-we-dream-for/