Boys basketball: Dixon swipes 12 steals to beat Redhawks

STERLING – Dixon led for all but the first few moments of the game, and held off a rally in the first quarter and another in the fourth to beat Naperville Central 53-45 on Monday at the 5th Annual Sterling MLK Classic.

Beau Bailey led the Dukes with 21 points, scoring 11 in the second quarter and shooting 11 of 14 from the free throw line in the game.

Bailey’s strong second quarter helped give the Dukes a more comfortable margin after the Redhawks had rallied late in the first quarter. Naperville Central trailed by a point (11-10) early in the second quarter, but Dixon answered with an 8-0 run, and by halftime the lead had reached double digits.

“We just had to turn up our intensity in how we play, change our ways,” Bailey said. “If they’re coming back or they’re doing something, change defense.”

After Naperville Central’s Cameron Dougherty opened the scoring with a jumper, Bailey answered with a 3-pointer on Dixon’s next possession, and the Dukes led the rest of the way. Dixon led by as many as six in the first quarter before the Redhawks answered with a jumper from Dougherty and a basket in the paint from 6-9 junior Chris Conway.

After a Conway free throw early in the second got the Redhawks within a point, Oscar Van Sickle and Bailey hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and Bailey added a steal and a layup to increase the lead to 19-10.

The steal was one of two Bailey had in that quarter alone, and one of 12 the Dukes had in the game.

“I thought we were really anticipating passes well and we were down in stances for the most part, and when that happens, we get five guys doing it, good things happen for us,” Dixon coach Chris Harmann said.

The Dixon defense forced Naperville Central into 10 first-half turnovers, with those turnovers turning into nine Dukes points on the other end.

The defense was also able to keep the ball out of Conway’s hands in the low post for long stretches.

“They like to lob it into him, but we could get tips off of that and usually get it and go,” Dixon senior Payton Lawrence said. “Just always sprinting out and running them off the 3-point line.”

Conway still managed nine points and 10 rebounds, but the Redhawks had to look for other options on offense, finding the 3-point shooting of Dougherty and Patrick Thorne. Thorne hit 4 of 9 from behind the arc to score 12 points for Naperville Central. Dougherty never did quite get on track with his long-range shooting, but a collection of mid-range jumpers and drives to the basket helped him score a team-high 15 points.

“[Dougherty] and [Thorne] are both good shooters,” Harmann said. “We talked about it before the game, if we leave them open, they can hit them. They’re very good.”

Lawrence, who knocked down five 3-pointers in Monday morning’s game against Maine South, was also struggling to find the mark from long range, but started driving to the basket and came away with 10 points.

“I had my first step in the gap easy,” he said. “Usually they were closing out on me hard so I don;t have to really worry about that, especially if I’m shooting in the first half.”

It was a Lawrence drive to the basket followed by a 3-pointer from Gabe Sohn that got the Dukes going in the third quarter, increasing their lead to 30-17. After Conway hit a basket in the paint, Lawrence drove again and turned that opportunity into a three-point play to make it 33-19.

The Dukes led by 15 early in the fourth quarter before the Redhawks made another rally. Neil Gupta knocked down a 3-pointer, Patrick Zeng hit a pair of free throws, and Doughtery scored on a backdoor cut to cut the deficit to 40-32.

Dixon got the lead back up to 13 on a pair of Derian Duncan free throws with 1:23 to play, but Thorne answered with a 3-pointer. After a basket by Lawrence on the other end, Thorne hit another to cut the Dukes’ lead to 49-40.

Bailey and Van Sickle added free throws for Dixon before Dougherty answered with two free throws of his own and, after Dixon was called for an over-and-back, Dougherty converted a three-point play to make it 51-45 Dixon. That was as close as the Redhawks got, as Aaron Duncan added a dunk, and a last-second 3-pointer for Naperville Central was off target.

Dixon (14-6) was content to slow the tempo at times. One possession in the third quarter pulled nearly 2 minutes off the clock. Each team ran just a dozen offensive possessions in the second quarter.

“It’s a long day,” Harmann said. “We had a tough one today earlier with Maine South. We got to play two good ballclubs, two big ballclubs, something that we will take going forward. I hope they’re seeing that we can play with whoever we’re out there with.”

Maine South 54, Dixon 50, OT: The Dukes’ day began with an overtime loss.

Dixon led the Hawks 13-12 after a quarter, broke a 23-23 halftime tie to lead 35-34 after three, then saw Maine South tie the game again 46-46 at the end of regulation.

Derian Duncan scored 17 points, Lawrence added 15, hitting five 3-pointers, and Bailey scored 12.