Danger lurked as the Rising Sun boys basketball team played its postseason opener Monday night. Darius Dangerfield of Harford Tech to be precise. The diminutive Dangerfield scored 13 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter as the Cobras ousted the Tigers 74-62. Dangerfield made 11 of 13 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter to seal the deal. He got help from Dominic Webb (16 points) and Jaylen Kelley (10). "I don't think we've faced a team that could shoot like they could in the regular season," Rising Sun senior guard Noah Juergens said. "A couple kids were automatic and usually you get lucky and they miss them during the regular season. This was the first time we met them this year and they definitely shot lights out. Dangerfield is a great player. He can initiate contact, get the foul. We had a lot of foul trouble. They made their free throws." Juergens (21 points) closed out his career in style, almost single-handedly keeping Rising Sun in the game. He buried a pair of three-pointers in the third quarter to keep Tech from blowing the game wide open. The Tigers trailed 54-40 early in the fourth quarter before making a run. Curtis Cox started an 11-2 spurt and has another basket in that stretch as Rising Sun narrowed the gap to 56-51 with 3:25 remaining. "It doesn't matter if we're down five or 15," said Juergens. "This team always has faith that we're going to come back, no matter how much time is left, no matter who's on the court. We have the mindset that we can win the game no matter what. But in that particular situation, we were doing really well. They had a 10-point lead throughout the whole game pretty much…We thought we had it. We really did." The Tigers got the ball back with a chance to get even closer, but missed a shot. Dangerfield drove to the basket, scored while drawing a foul, and made the free throw lengthen Tech's lead to 59-51 with 2:31 to go. "We had that thought in our minds [that we were] going to make it back," Passenant said. "Then [Harford Tech] came through. Dangerfield is a great player. He came through with a big basket. We couldn't stop him." Cox countered on the other end, but Dangerfield hit four straight free throws to make it a 10-point game. Will Farrington had 14 points in his last game and junior Curtis Cox provided nine. Rising Sun was without injured starting guard Casey Baker. "He's that extra shooter that we have out there," Passenant said. "He basically plays the point. That extra guard, when you lose a starter it's a major impact." Rising Sun started strong. Juergens converted a three-point play to begin the game. "I feel like that but it all [depends] on the first shot I take," said Juergens. "Luckily, the first shot I took, I scored. That's usually how I judge off I'm going to take the game. Especially with Casey out I had to step up a little bit. Everybody on the team really stepped up. They knew what they had to do." The Tigers were ahead 18-15 after the first eight minutes. Tech begin the second quarter with a 17-3 run and never led by less than five the rest of the way. "They played really hard," Rising Sun coach Don Passenant said of his squad. "And Harford Tech was well-prepared for us, too. We were prepared for them but they kind of shut us down a little bit. They got ahead of us. It's a matter of who scores the most points." The Tigers did score the most points 11 times this season after winning six games the year before. "I think they did a great job this season," said Passenant. "Eleven wins. Nobody remembers the last time Rising Sun won 11 games. I'm extremely proud of these guys." Juergens was emotional following the final basketball game of his career. "I couldn't ask any more," he said. "The last four years have been great. This team, the guys I play with. I'm not sad that it's over, I'm glad that it happened. I'm walking off this court for the last time with my head held high. It's been a pleasure." Comments are closed.
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