Boys basketball: Balanced Sycamore fends off feisty Dixon for nonconference road win

DIXON – On a night when shots aren’t falling, it’s always nice to be able to turn to a tough defense.

The Sycamore boys basketball team used its defense in the second half to pull out a 41-34 win over Dixon on Tuesday night at Lancaster Gym.

Playing without star Jacob Gaither, the Dukes (11-8) put up a fight after falling behind 9-0 in the first five minutes. But each time Dixon made a run, Sycamore (12-9) was able to fend it off and answer with a spurt of its own.

That was evident in the fourth quarter. The Spartans took a 31-25 lead on a 3-pointer by Tyler York, a putback by Lucas Winburn, and a free throw from Brody Armstrong.

But Dixon battled back, as Sky Goral nabbed a steal and passed it forward to Wyatt Wetzell for a runout layup, then Goral found himself all alone on the low block after a pass from Lucas Healy to get within 31-29.

But a sideline inbounds play for Sycamore turned into a layup for Eli Meier, then Dawson Alexander scored a putback on the next possession to stretch the lead back to six at 35-29.

“We just had to settle down, stay patient and keep playing our game,” Alexander said. “There was no need to rush anything, no need to take quick shots, just be patient with the ball, take care of it and don’t turn it over.”

The inbounds plays and offensive rebounds were big for Sycamore all game and led to 12 points combined – crucial in a tight game.

“The big thing was we did a really good job executing our inbounds plays tonight, and we got six points off of that. Especially when it was a two-point game there, we ran a sideline inbounds play and got an easy basket off of that,” Sycamore coach Andrew Stacy said. “We showed our unselfishness, too. Guys were willing to make the extra pass, and some guys just made some plays on their own, with some offensive rebounds and putbacks. When you’re struggling to make shots, it’s nice to get some offensive rebounds. That’s the difference in the ballgame.”

Dixon struggled at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter but managed to cut the deficit to 37-34 on a Goral 3-pointer in transition after Bryce Feit stole the ball near midcourt and passed it ahead.

But Sycamore responded by hitting its free throws and hitting the glass. After Armstrong missed the second shot of a 1-and-1 attempt, Winburn snagged the rebound and got the ball to Teague Hallahan, who was fouled. Hallahan split two free throws, but they Spartans forced a missed 3 by Dixon, and Armstrong hit two free throws with 4.1 seconds left to seal the victory.

Sycamore was balanced on the offensive end, with six players scoring between four and 11 points.

“The more guys contributing, the better. Everybody chipping in is the same as one person scoring 20 points, but it also makes us tougher to defend,” Meier said. “But it starts with defense, getting stops and rebounds, and then pushing the ball when we can. If we can’t, we just pull it out and run our stuff on offense. That was big for us tonight.”

The key to defending the Dukes was constant communication. With their offense consisting of screens and cuts to open up perimeter shots or low-post looks, it was imperative that the Spartans be able to keep track of the cutters and make sure they weren’t giving up open looks.

“Obviously they have a good offense with a lot of screens and cuts, so it was all about communication,” Alexander said. “In the first half we had a few times where miscommunications led to open shots, but we locked that down in the second half with coach [Brett] Goff, and we really communicated and made sure we fought through the screens and stayed on our guys.”

Meier had 11 points, three rebounds and three assists, Winburn finished with eight points and seven rebounds, and Hallahan added eight points and four rebounds. York hit a pair of 3s for six points to go with two steals, and Armstrong and Alexander both scored four points; Armstrong also had four steals and two assists, and Alexander added four rebounds and four assists.

Goral led Dixon with nine points and four rebounds, Healy had eight points and four rebounds, and Wetzell and Riley Abell added seven points apiece; Abell dished four assists, and Wetzell had two assists. Feit finished with four steals, three rebounds and two assists.

“I felt we didn’t shoot it extremely well, and we turned it over too much, but our guys fought the whole way,” Dixon coach Chris Harmann said. “I thought we saw a couple guys kind of come out of their shell a little bit tonight. I thought just in general, our guys kind of had to come together forcibly. Obviously you want to come out on the other end of it, especially when you play that hard, but it also shows that you have to execute when you get the opportunity.”