The last time the Dexter boys’ basketball team played defending state champion Lincoln, Emoni Bates scored 40 points on the Dreadnaughts in a 67-38 win at Lincoln last month.
Fast forward to Friday night and not much has changed. Bates, one of the most highly recruited players in the country, scored 18 of his game-high 36 points in the third quarter to lead the Railsplitters to a 68-45 win over host Dexter.
“It was a tough loss for our boys tonight against Lincoln,” said Dexter Coach Jason Rushton. “I thought defensively in the first half we were able to do what we needed to, but came up with too many empty possessions on offense to keep it close.”
Rushton and the Dreadnaughts will put the game behind them and move on.
“We’ll bounce back,” says Rushton.
The Railsplitters jumped out to a 15-6 lead after one quarter. They stretched the advantage to 30-16 at halftime.
Both teams cranked up the offense in the third quarter. Lincoln, led by Bates, put up 22 points on the board while the Dreadnaughts scored 18 points. Lincoln put the game away with a 16-11 fourth quarter.
Junior Colin Parachek led Dexter with 12 points including two triples. He also had six rebounds. Senior Bobby Pnacek had nine points; sophomore Cal Bavineau had seven points and six assists; senior Marco Lucchesi had six points; senior Ryan Trinkle had five points; and freshman Brennan Parachek had eight rebounds.
DeCorion Temple (12 points) was the only other Lincoln player in double figures.
Dexter has a tough week coming up. They play at Ypsilanti on Tuesday and at Chelsea on Friday.
