Confidence and aggressiveness were the name of the game Friday night for Dixon in a Big Northern Conference game at Lancaster Gym.

The Dukes used a huge third-quarter run to break open a tie game and pull away for a 53-37 victory over Stillman Valley.

Dixon (6-10, 2-0 BNC) went on a 19-4 run over the final 5:16 of the third quarter to turn a 25-all tie into a 15-point lead, using tenacious defense and an attacking offense to turn the tide.

“We knew the energy was there, we just had to finish. We got a lot of steals, forced a lot of turnovers, and we just knew we had to finish it out,” Brody Nicklaus said. “The coaches said to make sure to finish our shots, finish our offense, finish the game out strong. We played with energy, and we played smarter with the ball, finished our passes with layups, and it worked out well.”

The Dukes nabbed 19 steals and forced 27 turnovers while committing just 11 themselves. In the third quarter, Stillman Valley (4-7, 0-2 BNC) scored six points and turned the ball over nine times.

“We had four turnovers to start the third quarter, and that started us on a downhill slope,” Stillman coach Kurt Broski said. “We’ve got to take care of the basketball. They had more intensity than we did to start the third quarter. We’ve got a lot of young guys, and it’s an intensity thing that we’ve got to get these guys to overcome.”

Dixon got contributions from everybody, whether in the starting lineup or off the bench. Eight different Dukes scored points, nine different players pulled down rebounds, and six different guys had steals as they ran their winning streak to four.

“We have been working on a lot of stuff at practice, especially coming off the bench and having everybody contribute and play their own role,” Xavion Jones said. “We’re all ready to come in and help the team, and as a whole team we want to keep on contributing and doing our parts. We really need that, and we have come so far with it since the beginning of the season.”

Jakob Nicklaus hit a pair of 3-pointers in Dixon’s 10-4 opening surge, then Jones and Zander Wilson scored layups later in the first quarter to make it 16-13.

After Connor Waugh hit a corner 3 to give the Cardinals a 21-18 lead early in the second, Dixon responded with a pair of inside baskets from cousins Jakob and Brody Nicklaus and led 24-23 at halftime.

Armahn McGowan’s driving layup early in the third ignited the Dixon spurt, and Brody Nicklaus, Jones and Wilson also scored in the onslaught. Jimi Gosinski’s putback on an offensive rebound made it 44-29 heading into the fourth, and the Dukes led by as many as 18 in the final period.

“We could tell we had the momentum,” Brody Nicklaus said. “We’ve been working really hard in practice, and when we saw them getting tired, we started getting really hyped up. We hit some layups, started getting more steals off that, and that’s what our offense is all about. That’s why we pulled away.”

Brody Nicklaus led the way with 13 points, eight assists and three steals, and Jones scored 12 points. Jakob Nicklaus had nine points and four rebounds, Wilson added eight points and five boards, and McGowan (2 steals, 1 block) and Brady Feit (7 steals) both scored four points. Gosinski added two points, five rebounds and five steals for Dixon.

“We knew that we had to pick it up. Coming in on a three-game win streak, we were ready to keep on winning,” Jones said. “That’s what kept us going and that’s how we forced them out of what they wanted to do.”

Evan Eddy had 12 points and seven rebounds, and Noah Janesak added seven points, 10 rebounds and three blocks for Stillman Valley. Waugh scored five points, Paxton Barger and Kaleb Chambers both scored four, and Ryan Spangler chipped in four rebounds, four assists and two steals.