DEXTER – They’ve existed slightly under the radar so far this winter in Eastern Maine Class C boys basketball circles.

But with two weeks left in the regular season the Dexter Tigers are in familiar position, armed with a 10-4 record and the athleticism to create headaches for virtually any team they play.

Coach Peter Murray’s club used relentless rebounding and dogged defense to subdue Stearns of Millinocket 57-38 at Guiski Gymnasium on Thursday night.

“We’ve been struggling a little bit lately, so tonight was a good confidence builder for us,” said Dexter center Gavin Cote, who finished with team-high totals of 13 points and 12 rebounds. “We were patient on offense, we didn’t rush a lot of shots. We made that extra pass and got it to the open guy, and we rebounded really well tonight, which we’ve also struggled with.”

Both Dexter and Stearns are among a cluster of teams still with an eye on earning home-court advantage in the preliminary round of the Eastern C playoffs. The Tigers took another step toward that goal with a solid victory over a youthful band of Minutemen – just one senior is listed on coach Wade Duplisea’s roster – that has proven to be quite competitive despite having its record dip to 6-8 with the loss.

But the Minutemen couldn’t match Dexter on the backboards on this night, as the Tigers outrebounded Stearns 32-17 and scored 11 points directly as the result of offensive rebounds.

Dexter also induced 22 Stearns turnovers, eight during the third quarter when the Tigers extended a 26-20 halftime lead to 44-30 by the end of the period.

“We have athletic kids. I’m not sure that any of them would rate basketball as their No. 1 sport, but they are athletic,” said Murray. “We know that for us to be successful that it has to come on the defensive end, that it all starts with rebounding and defense. That’s what we try to bring every night and we’ve been pretty good about it all year. The offensive end is where we struggle sometimes.”

Dexter shot 42 percent (22 of 53) from the field against Stearns, with Cote leading a balanced attack that also featured senior guards Rick Stewart (12 points) and Ethan Woodman (10). The Tigers also got strong play nearer the basket from senior forwards Nathan Peirce (eight points, eight rebounds) and Chris Eastman (eight points, six rebounds).

Junior forward Cory Barnett paced Stearns with a game-high 15 points, while junior forward Charlie Osborne added nine points on 4 of 5 shooting and junior center Tyler Richards contributed six rebounds and three blocked shots.

Dexter never trailed after Woodman opened the game with eight unanswered points in the opening two minutes on two-3-pointers and a steal he took in for a layup.

But with Barnett converting short jumpers to score eight points in the second quarter, Stearns battled back to within six at the break.

Dexter scored on its first two possessions of the third quarter using what worked for the Tigers all night, as Stewart converted a steal into a layup and Cote then scored after grabbing an offensive rebound to restore the margin to double digits.

Stearns got no closer than eight points the rest of the way.

“A lot of people probably underestimated our talent this year because we graduated six or seven seniors last year when we went 13-7,” said Cote, a 6-foot-4 senior who is averaging a double-double in scoring and rebounds this season. “But I think we all had confidence that we would come out and have a good season this year.

“This is a good win, but now we’ve still got four important games left.”

eclark@bangordailynews.net

990-8045

TIGERS 57, MINUTEMEN 38

Stearns (6-8) Dexter (10-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Baker 0 0 0 0 0 Woodman 4 9 10

Barnett 7 13 1 1 15 Grant 0 0 0

Osborne 4 5 1 2 9 Lary 1 2 2

Richards 1 5 1 2 3 Stewart 5 13 12

Sadlon 1 7 0 0 3 Clark 1 1 2

Santerre 1 1 0 0 2 Peirce 3 11 8

C-McDnld 0 1 2 2 2 Mountain 0 0

Manzo 0 1 1 2 1 Jewett 1 2 2

Wallace 0 0 0 0 0 Eastman 3 3 8

Eurich 1 2 1 2 3 Trivette 0 0

McLaughlin 0 2 0 0 0 Cote 4 11 13

Totals 15 37 7 11 38 Totals 22 52 11 17 57

Stearns 6 20 30 38

Dexter 16 26 44 57

3-pt. goals – Stearns (1-5): Sadlon 1-5; Dexter (2-6): Woodman 2-5, Peirce 0-1

JV: Dexter 54-51

Attendance: 250 (est.)