The Pioneer boys’ basketball team has plenty of firepower on offense but it was their defense that helped extinguish visiting Dexter on Wednesday night. The Pioneers held the Dreadnaughts to just seven points in the first half, building a commanding 26-7 lead at the break and cruising to a 64-30 win in an SEC Red game.
“I thought we hung our hat on our defensive effort,” said Pioneer Coach Rich Marion. “Dexter has been shooting the ball well from the perimeter so they posed a challenge.”
Marion said his team was “still over-thinking things offensively” in the first half but they finally got it going in the second half. “We played tentative at times and forced things other times,” he said. “We played more efficiently in the second half and that started with our transition offense. I thought Nelson Sompa pushed the ball, spread it around and the movement became contagious.”
Dexter Coach Jason Rushton was impressed with the Pioneers, who are quickly becoming the team to beat in the area. “We didn’t shoot the ball well, so credit to them for getting us out of rhythm,” Rushton said.
Both teams scored 16 in the third quarter as the Dreadnaughts finally started to hit some shots. But Pioneer outscored the visitors 22-7 in the final period.
Pioneer’s Jordan Harrison led all scorers with 16 points while Nathan Freisthler had 10 points, Tyler Mutinda had 9 points, Micah Powell had 8 points and Carson Strauss had 6 points.
Jack DeMerell led Dexter with 8 points. Owen Winder scored six and Ben Murphy had five points for the Dreadnaughts.
Pioneer plays at Monroe on Friday night. Dexter hosts Bedford on Friday night.
