Dulaney boys basketball coach Matt Lochte decided to toughen up his schedule this season with the hope of making the Lions stronger in the postseason.
It included adding top private and public schools.
Dulaney passed the first test Friday night in its season opener against defending Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference champion St. Paul’s, edging the Crusaders, 62-60, in Timonium in front of an overflow crowd.
St. Paul’s junior guard Zach Bare came off the bench to score a team-high 19 points.
Dulaney had a more balanced attack. The Lions used fine games from senior guards Isaiah Lamb (19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) and Scott Harrelson (16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks) and senior forward Jair Williams (10 points, 8 rebounds) to prevail.
Dulaney got on a roll in the fourth quarter, scoring 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting.
“We won the game in the fourth quarter,” Lochte said. “There was no doubt about it. It was a great win for us. St. Paul’s is one of the top programs in the Baltimore area. They are sending kids to play in college every year.”
A player Lochte calls a Division I prospect, Harrelson, a 6-foot-4 combo guard, scored nine points in the quarter. He made all four of his shots, including two dunks and a three-pointer.
The game was tied 38-38 entering the final quarter. After 6-foot-6 forward Daniel Wilson (13 points) dunked to make it 44-44, the Lions went on a 6-0 run to go ahead for good, 50-44, with 5:17 remaining.
Harrelson had a dunk and put back during that span.
About three minutes later, Dulaney had its biggest lead, 58-48, on Joey O’Dwyer’s 15-foot jumper.
But the Crusders (1-4) didn’t quit. They trimmed the advantage to 60-54 with 1:27 remaining on Bare’s basket.
After two Dulaney turnovers and a Gary Bernardez missed free throw, St. Paul’s cut the margin to 60-56 on Juwan Kearson’s layup with 32 seconds to go.
Harrelson’s layup 12 seconds later gave Dulaney a 62-56 lead.
St. Paul’s finished its scoring on Juwan Kearson’s free throw and Bare’s three-pointer at the buzzer.
O’Dwyer (9 points), Alex Kasslois (4), Bernardez (2) and Ben Stevens (2) accounted for the remainder of Dulaney’s scoring.
Kearson (7), Ryan Lee (6), Blake Brown (5), Alexander Matsinye (5), Ben Bagli (3) and Malcolm Jews (2) also scored for St. Paul’s.
“Basketball is a game of runs and they made one more run than we did tonight,” St. Paul’s coach Seth Goldberg said. “I truly believe my guys fought as hard as they did. This was a tough atmosphere to play and I thought my guys handled it well.”