Belmont won the first meeting at Dunbar 50-48 first meeting by holding down the Wolverines to just two fourth quarter points and hitting free throws in the final seconds.
For Tuesday’s rematch, Dunbar head coach Tony Dixon Jr. didn’t want to let his team forget how it lost the first game.
“We were locked in mentally and we controlled the game from start to finish,” he said. “The first game they wanted it more. We came out in the fourth quarter and only scored two points. We was locked in mentally early on.”
Dunbar clinches at least a share of the league title for a sixth straight season. Both sides still have one league game to play. Belmont is still able to finish in a tie should they defeat Stivers on Feb. 17 and Dunbar loses to Meadowdale on Feb. 19.
Dunbar (14-3, 8-1) jumped out to an 8-0 lead and never allowed Belmont to challenge afterward. A patient approach moving the ball along the perimeter and not forcing contested layup attempts wore out Bison defenders on multiple possessions. It allowed Dunbar to dominate the offensive glass throughout the game.
“That was a point of emphasis,” Dixon Jr. said. “Also defensively, but I told them not to give up and keep fight. We got to lead the game in rebounds. That was one of our goals.”
Belmont (9-9, 7-2) got as close as 18-13 midway through the second quarter after falling into its early deficit.
Dunbar has five of the six leaders of all DPS players in three-point percentage this season. It showed why through the first three quarters by hitting eight shots from beyond the arc, spread out between five different players, while only making five shots from two for the entire game as a team. The Wolverines hit four consecutive over the final four minutes of the third quarter to solidify its lead by 16.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
Sophomore Jay’Mal Whitfield led the way for Dunbar with 16 points, including going 11-for 13 at the free throw line.
“He’s been our consistent guy. I call him a tweener as he can go down there and play in the post, come out and dribble like a guard. He’s the backbone to what we want to do offensively,” Dixon Jr. said.
Junior Moses Sanford also got 14 points for the Wolverines.
The interior defense was too much for Belmont for most of the night as they were forced into taking many three-point attempts. Junior Jaquan Benson made the most of them, hitting seven total while scoring a game-high 25 points, but only freshman Brian McComb made any other shot from long range on the night.
Dunbar shot 10-for-13 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter as a team as it maintained a 20-plus point lead for much of the final period.
That kind of shooting would continue to be helpful against the upcoming schedule for the Wolverines. The next three games are all out of league contests beginning Friday against Harvest Prep, Trotwood on Saturday and playing at Westerville South on Feb. 17.
Dixon Jr. said it’s the kind of gauntlet he wants his team to go against before entering the postseason to know where it stands. The Division IV district draw is on Sunday.
“We’re sitting at four with Northridge at the top and got Alter and Urbana ahead of us right now. They all played tonight and they play Friday, so we’re right there two to four. We got a plan if we’re four, and we got a plan for if we’re two or three.”
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