Boys basketball: Hot shooting, tough defense lift Dixon past Kewanee

DIXON – When you can combine aggressive defense with unselfish offense, good things are bound to happen on the basketball court.

The Dixon Dukes were the perfect example of that Tuesday night in their home opener against Kewanee, as they shot 58% and forced 19 turnovers in a 63-43 victory over the Boilermakers at Lancaster Gym.

“We knew Dixon has some players,” Kewanee coach Matt Clark said. “The quality they have as a program right now, they play ball really well. Their defense is sound, they share the basketball, they shoot the basketball well. Those are hard teams to defeat.”

Dixon (4-1) took control in the second quarter. After Kewanee got within 18-13 on back-to-back baskets from Niko Powe and Brady Clark, the Dukes went on a 21-5 run that saw three different players hit 3-pointers.

Jacob Gaither, who scored the first 12 points of the second period, kicked off the run. He cut through the lane for a layup off a nice pass from Lucas Healy, then knocked down a 3 off another Healy pass, before nabbing a steal and going coast-to-coast for a dunk to give Dixon a 25-13 lead with 4:23 left in the half.

Riley Abell and Wyatt Wetzell then hit 3-pointers before Healy’s alley-oop lob to Gaither for a layup, then Wetzell and Abell both buried another 3 for a 39-18 lead; Dixon led 39-20 at halftime.

“We just worked the ball around, found the open man, made the easy play,” Gaither said. “We traded good shots for great shots, and we were hitting those shots. That always helps.”

The Dukes assisted on 13 of 16 field goals in the first half, and only turned the ball over three times. Dixon had 21 assists on 26 baskets for the game, to go with 13 turnovers; many of those came after both teams emptied the benches in the fourth quarter.

“We were finding gaps in between their zone and exploiting the baseline runners. We got a couple of lobs, we got a couple of passes right up underneath the basket,” said Healy, who dished a game-high seven assists. “We’re really sharing the ball well this year; there’s not one guy every night that’s going to do it all themselves. We’re all a team, and we’re going to have lots of guys step up on any given night.”

The third quarter saw Dixon answer every time the Boilermakers tried to make a run. Austin Hicks’ 3 pushed the lead back to 18 a minute-and-a-half into the period, then Gaither and Karson Glessner scored inside for a 46-27 lead. Bryce Feit later scored off a pass from Sky Goral, then Gaither hit a runout layup to stretch the lead to 51-31 with 1:52 left in the third.

“Offensively, this team has done a good job to this point of sharing the basketball and kind of making that extra pass that coaches talk about all the time,” Dixon coach Chris Harmann said. “It does get you in-rhythm shots, and in-rhythm shots are what you practice most of the time, so when you get those, I was glad to see us shoot it as well as we did tonight.”

The Dukes played the entire fourth quarter with reserves, and 16 different players saw action. They shot 26-for-45 from the floor (57.8%), including 9-for-18 from 3-point range, and also clamped down on defense. Kewanee shot 42.2% from the field (19-for-45), but just 25% (4-for-16) from deep, and turned the ball over 19 times thanks in large part to 16 Dixon steals.

“We’re not a big team, but we can get around, move around, jump around. We’ve got long arms, and that makes things tough for teams,” Gaither said. “We were just sprinting spot to spot, and our effort was really good. … We knew our spots and where to be, we were sprinting and putting in good effort, and we were getting steals.”

Gaither stuffed the stat sheet with 24 points, six rebounds, five steals, four assists and a blocked shot, while Abell and Wetzell both had eight points, an assist and a steal for the Dukes. Hicks finished with five points, and Glessner, Feit and Beau Evans each scored four points, with Feit and Evans nabbing two steals each. Goral added two assists and two steals.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who can score it, and defensively we played with a lot of energy every possession,” Harmann said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can do things well, and nobody should be taking plays off. We have guys that have kind of stepped up and filled roles, and I’m really happy with where we’re at right now.”

Powe led Kewanee with 15 points, five rebounds and two assists, and Brady Clark added 12 points, five rebounds and two assists. Will Bruno chipped in seven points and four rebounds.

“Dixon is a quality opponent, and they have guys who can shoot it from any spot on the floor,” coach Clark said. “We’re struggling a little bit right now; at times we’ve looked OK, and at other times we look like we don’t know what we’re doing. We’re better players than what we’ve played, and we need to coach better, get them better prepared.

“But it’s good to see teams like this and see what good basketball looks like, and maybe model that for next game.”