DEXTER – They should play this well come February.

Because as Christmas break approaches, the Dexter boys basketball team is showing considerable chemistry, and the high-quality play that often accompanies that intangible.

Ask Foxcroft Academy, which fell to its neighboring rival 55-35 at Guiski Gymnasium on Monday night.

“They were hungry, they moved the ball, everything they did was right,” said Foxcroft coach David Carey, whose Class B Ponies never led and never really threatened the Class C Tigers after the game’s opening minutes . “They had an answer for everything we threw at them. Tonight there’s no question that Dexter was the better team.”

The unbeaten Tigers (4-0) took control thanks to the early perimeter shooting of guards Matt Murray and Eric Day, then offered up a clinic in interior passing to set up the low-post offense of Chris Rabideau and Tim McCarthy.

Dexter made 19 field goals, and had 15 assists.

Defensively, the Tigers’ helping man-to-man defense limited Foxcroft to 0-of-15 shooting from 3-point land and frustrated the Ponies into 20 turnovers, 13 in the first half as Dexter built a 31-17 lead. It was if they have been teammates for a long time – which they have. Six of the Tigers’ top seven players are seniors.

“All of us have been playing together since the second grade,” said Rabideau, who scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed five rebounds. “We’ve waited for this year pretty much our whole lives, and now we’re just trying to work as hard as we can to get a state championship.”

Dexter shot over Foxcroft’s 2-3 zone with great success early in the contest. Murray hit two 3-pointers to give the Tigers a 6-2 lead, and reserve Ryan Martin capped off the first quarter with another basket from beyond the arc. In between, Day hit a pair of midrange jumpers as Dexter ended the period with a 13-5 lead and forced Foxcroft out of its zone.

“We knew they’d be playing a zone,” Day said. “We practiced a lot against it, and hitting those shots early really got us going.”

Foxcroft (3-1) turned to a man-to-man set and more zone pressure, so Dexter used the pass to work the ball inside. Rabideau scored six points and McCarthy four in the second period, and while Foxcroft center Kyle Rideout struck for three field goals, the Tigers were able to extend their lead to 14 by intermission.

“Our last couple of practices getting ready for this game, we couldn’t have prepared any better,” said Dexter coach Peter Murray. “We knew exactly what was coming defensively, and we executed exactly what we practiced doing the last couple of days. It was just a perfect example of scouting things out, knowing what to be prepared for, preparing for it, and executing.”

Foxcroft’s Matt Carey scored the opening basket of the second half, but that was as close as the Ponies would get. Rabideau converted a pair of transition layups, and McCarthy worked the inside for a free throw and a follow-up basket to help Dexter take a 40-26 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers then went on an 8-0 blitz to put the game away, with Rabideau scoring three close-range baskets on assists from Day, Murray and Mark Pullen and then feeding McCarthy to give Dexter a 48-28 lead with 4:35 left.

“We were really clicking on all cylinders tonight,” said Rabideau. “We got our outside game going and once we started working the ball inside it just seemed like nothing could go wrong.”

McCarthy finished with 12 points and six rebounds for Dexter, while Murray had nine points and four assists.

Rideout and Carey each scored 11 points for Foxcroft, with Rideout grabbing seven rebounds.

“It’s been quite a while since we beat these guys, and we came out pumped,” said Day. “We knew we had a good team this year, and we thought we could at least give them a good game, and we made some shots early and got out to a lead. This is just a great win for us.”

TIGERS 55, PONIES 35

Foxcroft (3-1) Dexter (4-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Cynewski 0 3 0 0 0 Day 3 7 7

McKusick 0 0 0 0 0 Murray 3 8 9

Prescott 1 3 0 0 2 Bowers 0 1 2

Tirrell 1 5 0 0 2 Rabideau 7 11 4 7 18

LaCasce 1 1 0 0 2 McCarthy 4 12

Carey 5 12 1 2 11 Martin 1 1 3

Croan 2 3 0 0 4 Lavin 0 0 0

Gilbert 1 6 0 0 2 Pullen 0 0 0

Weeks 0 0 1 2 1 Peirce 1 1 4

Rideout 4 6 3 5 11 Sylvester 0 0

Eastman 0 0 0 0

Totals 15 39 5 9 35 19 36 12 21 55

Foxcroft 5 17 26 35

Dexter 13 31 40 55

3-pt. goals – Foxcroft (0-15): Croan 0-1, Cynewski 0-2, Prescott 0-2, Tirrell 0-3, Carey 0-3, Gilbert 0-4; Dexter (5-11): Murray 3-7, Martin 1-1, Day 1-3

JV: Dexter 58-38

Attendance: 500 (est.)