It’s been two weeks since Gordon Cushing lost one of the most excruciating games of his basketball coaching career when his Dragons blew a huge first-half lead in a 71-69 OT loss to Marshfield. However, his players seem to have forgotten it quickly, as they walked over North Quincy, 62-40, then proved they could be a dark horse for the Patriot League crown when they played one of their better games of the year on Friday night in a 69-57 win over Hingham.

Earlier in the season, Cushing stated that the league favorites were Scituate and Hingham, but that could be changing, as the Dragons and Whitman-Hanson seemed to have had little problem dealing with the Harbormen.

Friday night’s tilt started slowly with Duxbury grabbing an early 6-4 lead, as 6’7” senior Aaron Kramer was establishing himself inside against Hingham’s 6’5” center Jason Sullivan.

The Harbormen then went on a 10-2 run with Patrick O’Hearne leading the way, and maintained the lead over the next few minutes until free throws by senior Brian Grossman and a basket by classmate Mike Sullivan narrowed the gap to 21-16 as the quarter came to a close.

It was a totally different ballgame in the second quarter, as Duxbury picked up its defensive play and chipped away at the Hingham lead before Cushing called a timeout with 5:33 left in the half.

Trailing 27-23, Grossman hit a three-pointer and followed it with a free throw to tie the game at 27. A 7-0 Duxbury run followed, making it 34-27 for a lead the Dragons would never relinquish.

Grossman would score five more points in the final minute of the half, and Duxbury took a 41-33 halftime lead with the captain tallying 15 points.

“Our defense was terrible in the first quarter. We gave up 21 points and that is not what we normally do,” said Cushing. “We made the kids lock them down and not gamble on steals. It’s got to start on defense for us.”

Hingham began the second half with some defensive pressure, but it hardly made a difference, as the Dragons broke it at will and led 50-42 with 2:30 left in the third quarter.

However, Hingham’s Brett Canepa buried a three-pointer with 54 seconds to go and Phil Barr hit a shot at the buzzer after a Duxbury turnover, letting Cushing stew on the sidelines with his lead down to 52-47.

Barr and Kramer matched points to start the final eight minutes, followed by a Jordanesque up-and-under move by Sullivan that had the crowd on its feet. The basket started a six-point run by the senior and blew the game wide open, as classmate Pat McWilliams added more to the run by burying a three-pointer for a 63-49 lead.

CJ Taylor’s five points tried to get the Harbormen back in the game, but Cushing was taking no chances, as his starters remained to finish it off and raise their record to 5-3.

“Offensively we have four or five guys that can score in double figures every game and that makes us hard to defend,” said Cushing. “But we have to defend too. If we can keep teams in the 50s we can win a lot of games. My goal was to have everyone in shape and ready to play basketball by mid-January and I think we are getting there. We are getting better every  game.”

Grossman led the Dragons with 23 points, while Kramer and Sullivan had solid games with 15 each.

Next up for the Dragons is a Patriot League match-up with Rockland on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. in Duxbury, followed by another league game in Hanover on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.

There is no game on Friday night this week.