After suffering a painful 61-60 loss to Duxbury back in December, the Scituate Sailors had one thing on their minds when the Dragons visited Friday night. A win would thrust the Sailors back into Patriot League contention, while a loss would pretty much put the title in Duxbury’s back pocket.

If there was any doubt about Scituate’s desire to avenge that earlier loss, it was quickly erased in the first three minutes, as the Sailors pounced on the visitors and raced to a 12-0 lead with four different players contributing.

Scituate’s Dean Kennedy may have been a little too fired up after his team raced ahead, as the senior was hit with a technical foul for taunting, giving Duxbury a cause to rally.

They did just that, and went on an 11-2 run over the next 2:42 to get back in the game at 14-11, prompting Scituate coach Matt Poirier to go back to his starters, who immediately increased the lead to 21-13 at the end of the first quarter.

Scituate sparkplug Rodney Beldo buried five points to start the second quarter and increased the lead to 26-15. Making matters worse was the fact Duxbury’s 6’7” center Aaron Kramer picked up his third foul of the night with five minutes to go in the half and had to come out of the game.

What looked like a negative turn of events suddenly reversed itself, as the Dragons went on a 12-1 run and tied the score at 27 on a Brian Grossman three-pointer with 1:48 left in the half.

Duxbury would take its first lead of the game at 33-32, as Grossman stole a cross-court pass and went the length of the court for a lay-up.

Beldo came right back and nailed a trey for a two-point lead, only to have Mike Casal regain the lead for the Dragons with a three-pointer of his own. Trailing 36-35 with seconds remaining, Scituate would go to the locker room with a one-point lead, thanks to the efforts of 7’ center Andrew McCarthy, who laid in an offensive rebound at the end of the half.

“We played hard and battled back to get in it,” said Duxbury Coach Gordon Cushing. “That was a big hole to climb out of and we expended a lot of energy doing it.”

The lead went back and forth to start the second half until baskets by Sam Davidson, Ian Whitney, Mark Brust, and Aaron Kramer had Duxbury pulling away at 46-39 before Poirier called a timeout.

Minutes after play resumed, Kramer picked up his fourth foul of the game and had to come out. But the pain of his loss was eased somewhat when Casal buried another three-pointer for the Dragons’ biggest lead of the night at 52-43 with 2:30 to go.

What appeared to be a comfortable lead evaporated quickly, as Beldo lead the Sailors on a 12-0 run and ended the third quarter with his team ahead 55-52.

Brust would fuel a Duxbury come back with a pair of driving hoops to start the final eight minutes and put his team ahead 56-54, only to see McCarthy come right back for a 57-56 Scituate lead.

Three-pointers by Davidson and Brust, along with a free throw from Kramer, had Duxbury looking pretty at 63-57 with 3:37 showing on the clock. However, the Beldo threat was always present, as the junior came right back and buried a three.

A baseline jumper by Whitney put the lead back to five at 65-60 with 2:40 to go, but Scituate’s 6’4” power forward Anthony Parham scored off a huge offensive rebound to narrow the gap to three.

With 2:06 remaining Kramer picked up his fifth foul of the night after he had been hacked by McCarthy seconds earlier.

A minute remained when Beldo had the ball at the top of the key in a 66-66 game, and the junior had ice water in his veins as he launched a three-pointer that swished through the hoop with :58 to go.

Trailing by three, Duxbury had their chance to tie the game when a loose ball apparently went off a Scituate player and out of bounds. Much to the dismay of the Duxbury faithful, the call went the other way.

Beldo was fouled on the subsequent possession, and sank two free throws to put the game out of reach.

“I thought we played really well in the first half of that third quarter and then it got away from us when we were rushing our offense instead of taking our time,” said Cushing. “Then at the end the calls didn’t go our way, and I think that is an understatement. I’m not blaming the officials, but sometimes it is hard to overcome those things. In the end, we just have to play better so things like that don’t get in our way.”

Brust was Duxbury’s high scorer with 25 points, while Grossman chipped in with 13 and Casal contributed 11.

Sporting a 16-2 overall record prior to last night’s game with Silver Lake, the Dragons will now try to keep their title hopes alive by winning at Whitman-Hanson on Thursday night.