Boys basketball: Harrington, Dukes celebrate regular-season finale

DIXON – It was a Senior Night to remember for Dixon junior forward Darius Harrington on Thursday at Lancaster Gym.

After celebrating his senior teammates before the game, Harrington notched a couple of honors himself: He passed the 1,000-point mark for his career and set a single-season scoring record in the Dukes’ 44-28 victory over Sherrard.

[ Photos from Dixon vs. Sherrard boys basketball ]

“I knew I was there for both of those, and it feels pretty good, and also to get the win,” said Harrington, who has 1,018 career points, including 584 this season. “It just shows that all the hard work and dedication I put into this game is paying off. That’s how I look at it.

“Obviously, it’s a great accomplishment, and I’m going to keep working hard from here. I just like to see that it’s getting paid off on the court.”

Harrington scored Dixon’s first seven points and finished with team highs of 19 points, five rebounds and a blocked shot to go with a pair of assists. The Dukes led 10-2 midway through the first quarter and never looked back.

Dixon (24-5) didn’t shoot as well as it usually does at home. The Dukes finished 16 for 42 (38%) and 8 for 24 (33.3%) from 3-point range, but made up for it with stingy defense. They limited the Tigers (21-7) to 33.3% shooting (12 for 36), just 14% (2 for 14) from deep, nabbed 12 steals and forced 14 turnovers.

Dixon shared the ball well, as usual, with assists on 14 of its 16 field goals.

“We didn’t shoot the best, but I thought that we made up for that defensively. We kept them in front, we got some steals, we got tips and 50-50 balls and just made it tough for them,” Harrington said. “I thought we did a really good job on defense, and we picked it up and hit some shots in the second half. We just battled like we always do.”

Sherrard went on a 9-2 run later in the second quarter, and back-to-back baskets in the lane by Rylan Carton and Jack Hatlestad cut the deficit to 20-16 with 1:18 left in the opening half.

But Harrington hit a jumper from the free throw line to stretch the lead back to six at halftime. Then Dixon outscored the Tigers 11-4 in the third quarter to take control. Cullen Shaner and Harrington hit 3s a minute apart early in the period, and Eli Davidson stole the ball near midcourt and drove in for a layup to close the third and give the Dukes their biggest lead to that point at 33-20.

“Basketball is a sport of swings; it’s back and forth every game, so we know that we’ll be able to come back and answer when other teams make their runs,” senior Bryce Feit said. “It was Senior Night, so we had to make sure we were locking in and we didn’t get antsy tonight. We still had to play our game.”

“We’ve been there before, so we’re not going to stress about it,” Harrington added about answering Sherrard’s surge. “We just relaxed, slowed it down and played at our pace, how we wanted to play.”

Feit came up big in the fourth quarter to seal the win. He buried a pair of big 3s to put the nail in the Tigers’ coffin, stretching the lead back to double digits as the Dukes dashed any Sherrard hopes of a comeback.

“Once that first one went in, I thought, ‘All right, I’m starting to feel it a little bit now.’ It felt good, for sure,” said Feit who finished with six points, two rebounds, two steals and an assist. “Everybody stepped up and made big plays for us tonight when we needed it.”

Mason Weigle was another senior who came up big, with four points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

“I’d say that us being a smaller group of guys, I think the focus all year has been those hustle plays, just playing hard,” Weigle said. “We’re not going to beat you with our size, so it’s important for us to hustle and play with toughness and work together.”

Sherrard picked up its pressure defense in the second half, but Dixon kept its composure, slowing down the pace and showing its trademark patience in the half-court offense while taking care of the ball. The Dukes committed only four turnovers before the benches emptied and subs finished out the final 1 1/2 minutes.

“We’ve got a really good group of guys, and we’re pretty good ball-handlers all-around,” Weigle said. “I think all season, we’ve been able to mitigate a lot of the pressure that teams have been throwing at us because we handle the ball so well and stay calm.”

Senior Austin Hicks carried the bulk of the load bringing the ball up the court, and he managed to dish out three assists and nab a pair of steals, as well. Shaner had six points on a pair of 3s to go with four rebounds, a team-high four assists and two steals. Davidson (2 steals) and senior Alex Harrison (2 rebound) each scored three points. Senior Jarrett McHugh added two points and two rebounds in the final stretch.

Carton led Sherrard with 10 points and six rebounds, Noah Fender scored six points and Holland Anderson added five points and four rebounds. Carter Brown hit a 3 and had three rebounds off the bench, and James Blackwell added two points and five rebounds for the Tigers.