Boys basketball: Dixon gets rolling, pulls away from Plano

DIXON – Facing a first-quarter deficit Tuesday night, Dixon turned to its defense to ignite the offense.

The Dukes used big runs in the second and third quarters to turn things around and pull away for a 57-38 win over Plano at Lancaster Gym, their fifth straight victory.

[ Photos from Dixon vs. Plano boys basketball ]

“We feed off our defense a lot,” junior guard Austin Hicks said. “We can go for the steal and get out in transition, that gets us an easy bucket, and that gets us going even more.”

Dixon (5-3) trailed 14-10 in the final minute of the first quarter. But Jath St. Pier hit a runner to end the period, and it turned out to be the first salvo in a 17-3 run over the next nearly eight minutes.

Hicks scored nine of Dixon’s final 11 points in the first half, and did it in a variety of ways. He hit a layup on a basket cut off a feed from Bryce Feit, then knocked down a 3-pointer before driving to the hoop himself for his last two buckets, the final one with three seconds left in the second quarter to give the Dukes a 29-19 lead at halftime.

“We just moved the ball, got guys open with down screens, cross screens, anything. We set plays up and ran our offense,” said Hicks, who finished with a game-high 20 points on 9-for-12 shooting and nabbed a pair of steals. “We moved the ball up the floor, and tried to keep our intensity while the were being more aggressive [on defense]. We hit a few shots, then they’d come out on us and we were able to drive to the basket.”

Darius Harrington started a spurt to open the second half, putting back his own miss to open the third quarter before driving to the basket for another bucket. St. Pier then scored on a drive to the basket before running a pretty give-and-go play with Feit to score a layup on a basket cut to make it 39-21 midway through the third.

“This is how we want to play and win,” said Harrington, who had 15 points, four rebounds and two steals. “We’re trying to get everybody involved, and basically just spread the scoring out. Really just moving the ball and getting open shots and hustling on defense. We got a few fast breaks and kind of took off after that.”

The Dukes shot 25 for 49 (51%) for the game – including 13 for 22 (59%) in the second half – and outscored the Reapers 32-13 in the second and third quarters.

Dixon forced 23 turnovers and swiped 16 steals, and also had 14 second-chance points. The Dukes were able to create some chaos with their zone, both in the half court and three-quarter court, and made it difficult for Plano (2-8) to get anything going on the offensive end.

“That definitely converted to a lot of our offensive points in the second half,” Harrington said. “We just brought up the intensity even more on defense, and that led to some offense.”

“We’re just really struggling right now to pass the ball and dribble it, and they took advantage of every mistake that we made,” Plano coach Kyle Kee said. “That was a good win for them, I think, and we just gave up too many opportunities. We’ve really struggled to score the basketball, and their defense was good. Their zone kept us out of the paint, and we couldn’t go inside and score very much.”

Feit had four points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists, St. Pier scored eight points, and Cullen Shaner finished with four points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals for the Dukes. Wyatt Wetzell added two points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals as eight different Dixon players scored, 10 Dukes grabbed rebounds, six dished assists, and eight nabbed steals.

Alijah Johnson led Plano with 12 points and two assists, and Davione Stamps added eight points – all in the first half – to go with three steals. Jame Pugh scored all seven of his points in the fourth quarter and also grabbed four rebounds, and Christ Keleba added two points, seven rebounds and two steals for the Reapers, who shot 13 for 39 (33%) and didn’t convert any of Dixon’s 18 turnovers into points.

“We’re at a point now where we’re just searching for stuff. We’ve played hard most of the year, it’s just getting in the right position – and on varsity, people take advantage of it,” Kee said. “It’s there for us, it’s just finding out how we can play together. And when you’re not ready for it, teams are going to beat you.”