The Dexter boys’ basketball team is certainly headed in the right direction.
A brief history lesson – and we mean brief. The Dreadnaughts opened with a rough loss to a talented Warren De La Salle team to start their first week of the season. They played a much better game on the road at Pinckney on Thursday, as a shot to tie the game at the buzzer rimmed out. And this brings us to Saturday where the Dreadnaughts ended the week with their best showing of the season – at least their best finish of the season.
“We found a way to get it done,” said Dexter Coach Jason Rushton.
They certainly did. Dexter trailed 33-29 at halftime but outscored host Bedford 18-2 in the third quarter and then put up 20 points in the fourth quarter for a 67-40 win over the SEC Red Division Kicking Mules.
It was a drastic change for the Dexter defense, which gave up 18 points in the first quarter and 15 in the second quarter. They stepped up in the second half, holding the Mules to two in the third and five in the fourth.
“We focused so much on tempo and attacking on offense that we forgot to play defense in the first half,” Rushton said. “The third quarter really set the tone for us in the second half. Our defense played very well only giving up two points while our offense continued to work.”
The Dreadnaughts moved the ball on offense and everyone seemed to move up on the scoresheet. Dexter had five players reach double figures, led Aidan Dexter with 14 points, including three triples in the first quarter.
“He had a big game for us,” Rushton said of Dexter. “He led us in scoring and was very active defensively with six deflections (something we track to see how active we are on defense in disrupting their offense).”
Guard Cal Bavineau had his best game of the young season. He had 13 points, seven assists, four steals and “did a great job pushing the tempo and attacking the basket,” Rushton said.
Sophomore Evan Haroldson, who is starting to come into his own offensively, also had 13 points for the Dreadnaughts.
Ty Rychener provided a spark off the bench and made a great impact contributing 11 points with 4 assists. Colin Parachek had 10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
“Sam Sterlitz deserves a lot of credit for the work he did defensively in the second half on their big man,” Rushton said. Sterlitz finished with six points, four boards and four blocks.
Dexter hosts Adrian at 7 p.m. on Thursday in an SEC White Division game. The Dreadnaughts then play at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Lake Orion in a non-league game.
