Following Tuesday night’s last-second win over Saline, Huron Coach Waleed Samaha was critical of his team’s play. In fact, the outstanding and well-respected coach said his team hasn’t played well all season despite winning basketball games on a consistent basis.
On Friday night, the Dexter Dreadnaughts showed two things: 1. When healthy, the Dreads can play with anyone; 2. Huron has some work to do if the River Rats want to get back to another Final Four.
Dexter honored their teachers and staff before the game and then the players took over the class and put on a great show against a strong opponent. The Dreadnaughts led most of the way and scored a 55-42 win over the River Rats in a big SEC Red Division contest. It was Huron’s first loss in the SEC Red this season.
“It was a good night for the Dreadnaughts,” said Dexter Coach Jason Rushton. “As a staff, we knew we had a good game plan going into (Friday) and the rest was up to our guys to execute. And they did that very well on both ends.”
It’s all starting to come together for the Dreadnaughts, who still have four games left in the regular season to completely right the ship.
“We had some tough losses early in the season, and we’ve had to battle through some injuries, and now we’re starting to see our process come together,” Rushton said.
Dexter led 14-12 after the first quarter and 27-21at halftime. The Dreadnaughts outscored the River Rats 16-8 in the third quarter and outscored Huron 12-11 in the final period.
Senior point guard Cal Bavineau led Dexter with 23 points, 6 assist, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Evan Haroldson left the game in the second quarter after rolling his ankle – and then came out and hit a bit three-pointer to start the third quarter. He finished with 11 points and 4 rebounds.
Ty Rychener added 7 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds. Brennan Parachek celebrated his birthday with 6 points and 8 rebounds.
Macari Moore scored eight points in the fourth quarter and finished with a team-high 14 points to lead Huron. Braylon Dickerson had eight points and TJ Bell and Enkidu Anthony each scored six for the River Rats.
