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Sports

Dunwoody Drops Lakeside 57-55 in Senior Night Victory

Boys face Southwest DeKalb Saturday at 7 p.m.

The Dunwoody boys basketball team won in down-to-the-wire fashion Friday night, dropping Lakeside in a 57-55 Region 6-AAAA match-up. 

It was a fitting win on senior night.

“You certainly want to send your seniors out on a high note,” said Dunwoody head coach Adam Griffin. “They are three tremendous kids and you certainly want to honor them with a victory. And we managed to pull one out.”

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Seniors David Adeboye, Marcus Wilson and Aaron Easterling were recognized before Friday’s win.

Lakeside’s Tre’Ellis Cooper missed a potential game winning three-pointer with under 10 seconds remaining, but teammate Miles Clarke was fouled on the rebound attempt. With a chance to tie the game in a one-and-one situation, Clarke missed the front end, but got his own rebound and put up a lay-up attempt that would have sent the game into overtime.

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Clarke’s final attempt hit the back rim, bounced high, and then caromed away for the miss as time expired on Senior Night for Dunwoody (6-17, 3-12 region).

Lakeside (5-20, 2-14) made up an 11-point disadvantage in the third quarter, coming back from a 46-35 Dunwoody lead. Cooper and Devian Clark scored seven points apiece in the fourth quarter, and a Cooper three-pointer with less than 20 seconds to play pulled the Vikings to within two points.

Dunwoody center Chris Hale went 4-of-5 from the free-throw line down the stretch to help Dunwoody preserve the victory. 

“It was nice for the big guy to step up and shoot some free throws,” Griffin said of Hale. “It’s not pretty but it goes in.”

Adeboye came up big for the Wildcats, leading the team with 16 points in the game. 

“He played really well,” Griffin added. “He stepped up and hit shots and controlled the ball, he did a little bit of everything for us tonight. He’s certainly the player of the game.”

Adeboye, a 5-foot-8 guard, scored eight points in the fourth quarter, and several times answered Lakeside baskets with momentum-killing jump shots. 

“It’s a great feeling,” Adeboye said. “You don’t want to lose on Senior Night.”

Fellow senior Wilson scored eight points, and sophomore post player Kelvin Brown was a force early, scoring 10 points in the game.

Lakeside was led by Clark’s 17 points; Angelo Cauley scored 14 on a series of strong drives to the basket and Cooper added 11.

Lakeside has concluded its regular season, but Dunwoody will host Southwest DeKalb on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both teams are awaiting their first-round assignments for next week’s region tournament. 

Despite a bit of a down year for a traditionally powerful Dunwoody program, Griffin believes that the season’s journey has prepared his Wildcats roster for the next step: a chance to spring some upsets in the upcoming league tourney and earn a top-four seed and playoff berth.

“We’ve got a chance to maybe be a surprise team,” he said. “There’s certainly enough talent in that locker room to win some games.”

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