There is a reason they call it the city, and it was on display last Wednesday night in Duxbury, as the #2-seeded Dragons were out-played by the #15 seeded Academy of Public Service (Dorchester High School) and fell to the Bears, 77-66.

When it comes to first-round action, Duxbury always seems to get a surprise. This time it was the 11-7 Bears, who came into town with a trio of high-energy players who gave the Dragons fits all night long.

Captains Darius Carter (33 pts.), Jaliel Langston (22 pts.), and 6’5” center Shawn Stanislaus (10 pts.) combined for 65 of Dorchester’s 77 points, fiddling and dribbling all night long, while throwing in hoops from every conceivable angle.

It was obvious the Dragons had to be at their best, as the visitors showed early they would be a problem on the boards: an area of great concern to Duxbury Coach Gordon Cushing.

With senior captain Mark Brust (25 pts.) and junior Brian Grossman (15 pts.) leading the way, Duxbury jumped out to a 13-9 lead in the first four and a half minutes before Cushing called a timeout to make some adjustments.

When played resumed, senior Jack Garrity came off the bench for four quick points, but Carter answered every one of them to keep his team close at 19-17 as the first quarter ended.

After Dorchester tied the game at 21 early in the second quarter, the Dragons went on a 15-6 run over the next four minutes, highlighted by three-pointers by Brust and Grossman that had the lead up to 36-27 midway through the quarter.

The Bears could see they were starting to fade, and picked up the pace quickly, ripping off an eight-point run and cutting the deficit to 36-35 with less than 30 seconds to go in the half.

The inbounds pass went to Brust for the final shot of the half, but his shot was short. Fortunately, senior Ian Whitney was perfectly positioned for the rebound and put it up and in with 1.6 seconds remaining for a 38-35 halftime lead.

The Dragons opened the second half with a 9-4 run for a 47-39 lead, only to watch Jaliel Langston (5 pts.) and his teammates catch fire, as they hit a trio of three-pointers to take a 50-49 lead with 2:04 left in the third quarter.

The Dragons felt confident when Stanislaus picked up his fourth foul and went to the bench with less than a minute to go in the quarter. However, they couldn’t regain the lead and trailed 55-53 at the end of three quarters.

The season boiled down to eight minutes for both squads, and the Dragons looked like they were ready, as they stormed the offensive boards and had close to a half-dozen shots from less than five feet in the first minute that wouldn’t drop.

It would be a sign of things to come, as nothing the Dragons threw up had any desire to fall through the hoop.

Carter and Jaliel Langston then took over, shaking and baking their way to the basket, as the Dragons went almost five minutes without scoring a point and trailed 64-58 after Grossman’s free throw broke the drought.

It was desperation time for the Dragons when Brust nailed a basket with 1:36 to go, but Carter and Eric Parish built the lead to 71-60 with a minute remaining, signaling the end to Duxbury’s tournament hopes.

Cushing was concerned about his team’s rebounding ability prior to the start of the playoffs, but what really did in the Dragons was their poor free-throw shooting. Duxbury attempted just 19 free throws and made a paltry seven, while the visitors attempted 35 and nailed 24.

“They are a good team and their record (11-7) doesn’t indicate who they are because they play against some tough teams in the city,” said Cushing. “We needed to do much better at the line and we needed to make our lay-ups. We had so many opportunities that we missed and it would become a four or five-point spread after we did. Let’s face it. It was a good season. We won 19 games (19-3) and we won the league. But tonight it just didn’t work out for us.”

The game marked the end of the careers of seniors Mike Casal, Mark Tedeschi, Andy Sealund, Davidson, Garrity, Brust, and Whitney.