The Dublin Lions secured a spot in the playoffs following split wins last week.
Their ticket was punched in an 81-71 away win over Early.
“It was a fast-paced game and we were in control the whole way,” said head boys basketball coach Wes Grisham. “I thought our guys did a great job handling adversity and a physical team. This is what we needed signing our way into playoffs.”
Alex Teten led Dublin scoring with 25 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals.
Hunter Jones followed with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 blocks while Jayden DeLeon had 13 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals and a block and Joe Salinas had 12 points, 8 rebounds, one assist and 2 steals.
Also scoring for Dublin were:
■ Aiden Jeffery - 7 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
■ Jorge Solis - 3 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal
■ Ivan Phelps - 3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals
■ Hayden Milburn and Hunter Lewis each added two points. The Lions returned home Friday, February 13 and found that signature bad luck as they hosted the Tolar Rattlers and lost 63-66.
“That was an intense match up and our guys are really down about the loss,” said Grisham, who reported the team led 11 points at halftime. “We had too many silly turnovers and gave them easy baskets to come back. We struggled with foul calls not going our way but the end result was we didn’t lock in for the win.”
Scoring for the Lions were:
■ Teten - 15 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal
■ Salinas - 14 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
■ Jones - 13 points, 15 rebounds, 4 block
■ Solis - 5 points, 1 rebound, 1 block
■ DeLeon - 4 pts, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals
■ Phelps - 4 points, 2 steals
■ Kyson Gilman - 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist
■ Jeffery -3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist
■ Omar Vazquez - 1 point, 1 rebound The Lions were expected to play either City View or Henrietta dependent on Tuesday night games this week. Game info will be shared on the Dublin Citizen Facebook as available.