Dexter boys’ basketball coach Jason Rushton walked off the court at halftime of Thursday’s game at Lincoln shaking his head. He had some work to do at halftime after the Dreadnaughts committed 19 turnovers in the first quarter and fell behind 16-4 after the first quarter.
The Dreadnaughts got the message and played a much stronger second half before falling 59-57 to a very good Lincoln team. Dexter even had a shot at the buzzer but the ball didn’t fall – but the Dreadnaughts gained plenty of confidence along the way and saw the positive results when they played well which is an important lesson early in the season..
“We battled back which was great to see,” said Rushton. “After starting the first half with 19 turnovers, we finally settled in and got back in the game with some incredible defense. Our team is young, so we still need to find our way in valuing the basketball and doing the little things it takes to win games.”
Rushton has already seen enough to have faith they will start finishing games in the win column.
“There is no doubt that this team will get there,” he said. “I’m very proud of the way they battled. It didn’t end the way we would hope, but the fact that this team found a way to compete and make this a game when it could have easily gone the other way says a lot about the guys in this locker room. We love coaching this group and we will continue to work to get better. The results will come.”
Jack Demerell and Ben Murphy each scored 18 points to lead Dexter. Demerell scored 12 of his 18 points in that fourth-quarter run. Scott Smith had 12 points for the Dreads.
Dexter isn’t exactly taking the holidays off. The Dreads play Chelsea next Friday, Southfield A&T in the Motor City Roundball on 12/28 and then Okemos at Little Caesars Arena on 12/30 to finish 2023.
