Dukes Shock Orioles

The Pulaski Middle School Orioles have been having an outstanding basketball season, with a current overall record of 11-4.  The Dublin Middle School Dukes basketball team has been having a more difficult time this season, however, and the wins have just not been there even when the effort has been.   The two teams met for the final time this season on Thursday night at Dublin Middle School, and as is usually the case with rivalry games, anything could and did happen.  After being manhandled in their first match up a little over a week ago, the Dukes were able to defeat the Orioles by a final score of 44-39.

"What a win" said an extremely happy Dublin Head Coach Richard Lewis.  "These guys have worked hard all season, and at times we've played well.  We could never seem to get over the hump though.  This was, without a doubt, our best game of the season.  The team played hard, they shot well, and we hustled through the entire game.  I'm really proud of the effort we put out tonight."

The Dukes took an early lead, going up 5-0 before the Orioles were able to hit a basket.  Tough defense on both sides of the court kept the scoring low, but the first quarter ended with Dublin up 11-6.  Both teams missed three point attempts in the second quarter, but the Dukes kept pressing the ball on the strength of solid drives to the basket by Malik Eaves, Jake Callahan, and Isaac Poe.  While Dublin maintained a steady pace on offense, scoring 11 more second quarter points, they also kept the defensive pressure on the Orioles and held them to seven.  The half ended with Dublin ahead 22-13.

Pulaski came out hot in the second half, and three pointers by Gavin Hanks and Marcus Burks helped the Orioles close the gap somewhat.  The third quarter saw the Orioles outscore Dublin 15 points to 12, leaving the score at 34-30 heading into the final period.    Pulaski continued to try to find a way to take the lead, but the Dukes were determined to finish the game strong.  Halfway through the final quarter the Dukes had stretched the lead back out to 40-32 after a layup by Eaves, who then also got a steal and another layup immediately.  Pulaski attempted to move the ball down the court to get in position for a three point shot to tighten up the score again, but couldn't get a good look at the basket.  After both teams exchanged foul shots for the final two minutes, Dublin was able to hold on for the upset win by the final 44-39.

"Pulaski has a great team and we feel very fortunate to have played as well as we did tonight" said Coach Lewis.  "I know this is always a heated rivalry game, and you want to see the kids competing the way they did tonight.  You want to see them play hard and play to the end.  After it's all said and done though, these young men will all be team mates at the high school.  Once this season is over, it's time to start getting them ready to be Cougars."

Tyler Blevins led the scoring for Pulaski and the game with 18 points.  Marcus Burks and Cameron Merchant added six points each, while Tyler Harrison added four.  Gavin Hanks added three points to the tally, while Chris Tucker chipped in two points.  For Dublin, the high scorer was Isaac Poe, who ended the game with 15 points.  Jake Callahan was close behind with 12 points, and Malik Eaves has eleven.  Levi Clark added four points for Dublin, and Darian Brown rounded out the scoring with two points.

Due to the recent bad weather, two DMS games were postponed recently.  The Dukes will host Carroll County on Wednesday night with either a 4:30 or 6 pm tip off.