The No. 3 Dunbar boys basketball team wasn't concerned about style points when it went up against No. 6 St. Frances at the Governor's Challenge tournament at Wicomico Civic Center late Wednesday night.
A low-scoring, tightly contested win was just fine.
The Poets, now 7-0, rallied from a late five-point deficit to come away with a 49-48 win over the Panthers. Senior Evan Singletary led the way with 16 points, Donte Pretlow added 14 and a number of Poets stepped up at different times to help in the win.
"It's a huge win for the program and for Baltimore City -- St. Frances has been a really good program for awhile now," said Dunbar coach Cyrus Jones. "At the same time, we know we can't get complacent and still have business left."
The Poets trailed for most of the game, but the Panthers could never build a lead more than six points. Jones said forward Marvin Gross and guard Wilbur Young played a big role coming off the bench in the fourth quarter, bringing tireless energy on defense to get the needed stops to get back in the game. After Singletary gave the Poets a 48-46 lead with 55 seconds left, Aaron Parham had a big steal under the Panthers' basket with five seconds left, alertly diving to the floor and calling time. Pretlow made one free throw to push the advantage to 49-46 before the Panthers missed on a three and then scored on a meaningless follow basket near the buzzer.
The two teams continue the three-day tournament tonight with Dunbar taking on St. John's (D.C.) and St. Frances meeting Red Lion Christian (Del.). Both games are slated for 8 p.m. The tournament closes on Friday with St. Frances against St. John's and Dunbar meeting Red Lion, both games at 8.