After a great run through the regular season and into the playoffs, which included beating Skyline for a District title, the Dexter boys’ basketball team ran into Ann Arbor Huron on Tuesday night. The River Rats are one of the best teams in the state and came into the Regional semifinal at Northville HS with an undefeated record, a loaded roster and plenty of experience.
It all added up to too much for the Dreadnaughts, who fell 56-33.
The River Rats (18-0) advance to Thursday’s Regional championship game against Livonia Stevenson (14-6). In other semifinal, Stevenson defeated Salem 53-51.
The finals tip-off at 7 p.m. at Northville HS.
“In the end, when it’s all said and done, only four teams will be crowned State Champions,” said Dexter Coach Jason Rushton. “Our season comes to completion against a very good Ann Arbor Huron team (perhaps the top team in the state with the way they played Tuesday night. We will see in the next couple of weeks) in the round of 32.”
The River Rats came out strong at both ends of the floor and their defense caused Dexter all sorts of problems. Huron outscored Dexter 15-5 in the first quarter and then went on a 14-2 run in the second quarter to take a commanding 29-7 halftime lead. There was no chance coming back from that against a team as talented and well-coached as Huron.
The River Rats outscored the Dreadnaughts 15-8 in the third quarter.
Julian Lewis led Huron with 16 points. Brandon Rawls had nine points and Tyson Edmondson scored eight – including two triples in the first quarter.
Senior Colin Parachek led all scorers with 18 points – all in the second half. Cal Bavineau had seven points and Sam Sterlitz scored six for the Dreadnaughts.
It was an amazing season for the Dreadnaughts who battled all year for the league title, knocked off Chelsea in their final regular-season game and won its first District title since 2006.
“When it was announced we were going to have a season earlier this year, we had one goal – to get the absolute most out of each day we had together not knowing what tomorrow would bring,” Rushton said. “We did that. And, we were able to get a full 20 games in for this team (16-4 finish). This says a lot about this group. The sacrifices they made to stay together throughout this wild season, resulted in a conference and a district championship. It has been a long time coming for Dexter High School and the community itself.”
Rushton said the seniors were a part of building the foundation when the new coaching staff came in a year ago.
“With their hard work and commitment to our values, we have set a standard for Dexter basketball,” Rushton said. “A standard that student-athletes will have to work to live up to for years to come. This 2021 season will forever be posted on our banners in the gym and we hope that the way these young men carried themselves in perhaps the most difficult and uncontrollable of seasons, has made this community proud. The future of Dexter basketball is bright!”
