Dexter continues on in the tournament after getting the
67-51 home victory against the Ramah Mustangs.
Kevin Paez dropped 24 points, David
Lopez accounted for 17 points, and Kevin Bonner had 10 points to lead the
Dexter Demons.
The first half was closer than expected. After the first
quarter, Dexter was only ahead of Ramah 11-7. Ramah started the second quarter
strong with a short jumper. However, Kevin Paez went off dropping nine points
for the Dexter Demons.
The Demons started attacking the paint, and drawing fouls
from the Mustangs big man – Sean Jordan. Jordan was still a factor for Ramah
scoring 15 points in the second quarter.
Sean Jordan standing at at least six feet tall, he pounded
the paint and followed through with and-one’s and the made free throw to
follow.
“We knew that we had the height
advantage on them. When we got the ball inside we were successful,” Ramah’s
head coach Boyd Lewis said.
Dexter was in unfamiliar territory going into the locker
room with only a two point lead.
“We were struggling in the first half when they were playing
zone defense,” Dexter’s head coach James Voight said, “and for some reason they
came out of that. They thought they could go man against us. We spaced them
out, and we got every look and shot we wanted.”
The Demons came out of the locker room with vengeance. They
incorporated a trapping press forcing the Mustangs to turn the ball over
numerous times in the third quarter.
“The game just got out of reach in the second half and we
didn’t go back to attacking the paint,” Lewis said.
Kevin Paez continued to be on fire banking 10 points in the
third quarter to help give his team a large lead going into the final quarter.
“We felt like we let them off the hook. In the first half,
we had them down 14 and then they came all the way back and cut that deficit
going into the half,” Voight said. “We picked up our intensity. We were able to
push the lead larger to where they couldn’t come back.”
The Demons managed to shut down Sean Jordan in paint, and by
the start of the fourth quarter, Dexter was leading by 17 points. Amaya dropped seven points in the fourth
quarter to help the Demons get the victory and move on in the tourney.
There were two penalties called on Ramah in the fourth
quarter, and one was on Lewis and another on their point guard.
“The technical was to light a fire
under the players, and bring a spark,” Lewis said. “We tried to extend the
game, get them on the free throw line and get physical, but we weren’t trying
to hurt anybody.”
Lewis said the second half was
solely controlled by Dexter, and his team just could not handle the intensity
Dexter was bringing on the court.
“In the second half, we didn’t
adjust and the officials didn’t make calls. Dexter got easy baskets from their
press, and got all the momentum in their favor,” Lewis said.
Voight said his team made the right
adjustments and committed to the press and being aggressive on defense, and
that put the game away for Dexter.
“Our ultimate goal is to win a state championship here,” Voight said, “and we brought the intensity tonight.”
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