It is a team that is young and inexperienced. But Coach Gordon Cushing has pulled all the right strings so far, as his Duxbury boys’ basketball team pushed its record to 4-0 with a 60-58 win over undefeated Marshfield last Thursday night in Duxbury.

Anytime you face a Bob Fisher team, you know you’ll have your work cut out for you. That was the case on Friday night, as the Dragons built an early lead and then hung on in the fourth quarter to win by two points.

While the Dragons may lack experience, they showed they have plenty of length, as they blocked numerous Marshfield attempts in the first half to forge a 32-24 halftime lead.

While junior Curtis Owen has been the reliable offensive threat for Duxbury so far this year, he took a backseat to center Connor Kindregan in the first half and scored seven points, while his senior teammate led the way with 10.

While Marshfield did manage to grab the lead at 11-10 with a 1:05 left in the first quarter, they were never able to sustain it for any length of time, as consecutive baskets by freshman point guard Khai Perry gave Duxbury a 21-20 lead with just over three minutes left in the first quarter.

Momentum began to swing in Duxbury’s favor, forcing Fisher to call a timeout with 1:45 remaining and the Dragons ahead by five.

When Duxbury came back on the floor, baskets by Sam Ederle and Kindregan had the Dragons up by 10 points before going to the locker room at halftime with a 32-24 lead.

The Dragons did an excellent job in the first half breaking Marshfield’s press, as the Marino twins (Justin and Jason) were instrumental in getting the ball past half-court.

Everyone knows that Fisher’s teams are relentless on the defensive end and it was critical that the Dragons maintain their composure in the second half.

The Rams came out smoking after the break, as Marshfield senior captain Barrett Murphy scored six points in the first two minutes to cut Duxbury’s lead to 34-32 with 549 left in the third quarter. From this point on the Marinos took over, as Jason and Justin lead their team on a 16-5 run over the final five minutes that gave Duxbury a 50-37 lead after three periods of play.

The young Dragons knew they were in for some serious Marshfield defensive pressure in the final eight minutes, and the magnitude of it overwhelmed Cushing’s inexperienced team. Led by sophomore guard Alex White, the Rams began to whittle away at Duxbury’s lead, cutting it down to 52-48 with six minutes left in the game. A Murphy basket with just over two minutes to go made it a one possession game at 53-51 before Justin Marino hit two free throws to extend the lead to four with 2:12 to go.

With 1:20 showing on the clock, White scored on a layup to make it 55-53, and then Murphy followed by canning a jumper to tie the score with 43 seconds remaining.

The game was about to boil down to free throws and sophomore Sam Adderley had the most pressure packed moment of his young high school career, burying two for a 57-55 lead. A missed Marshfield shot led to another Duxbury possession, as Kindregan was fouled with 19.9 seconds remaining and a chance to grow the lead to three points. After sinking his free throw, Marshfield advanced the ball and Murphy missed a tying three-pointer with 8.7 seconds remaining.

Owen snagged the rebound and was fouled, making both his shots for a five-point lead with 8.7 seconds left in the game.

As the Rams took the ball inbounds they spotted sophomore guard Mac Junior on the right wing and fed him the ball for a three-pointer that swished through the net with 3.3 seconds to go.

It was critical that the Dragons get the ball inbounds pass midcourt, and they left it up to Justin Marino to get the job done, as he had done all game.

“We are a very young team and we only have one senior that plays a significant amount of minutes,” said Cushing. “We have about eight to 10 kids who have never played at this level, so I’d say we’ve gotten off to a great start.”

Kindegan and Owen led the Dragons with 14 points each, while Murphy torched the Duxbury defense for 31 points.

On Wednesday night Duxbury will play in the Marshfield tournament at Marshfield High School, with the winner advancing to the finals on Thursday night.