On Jan. 14, the Highland Huskies and the Marlboro Dukes boy’s basketball teams went head-to-head in a divisional matchup.

Starting for Marlboro were sophomores Korbyn Samuels at guard, Matt Drake at point guard and Collin Casey at guard, junior Alex Grzechowski at guard and senior CJ Faircloth in the forward position. For Highland, juniors Nick Ferdico and Deryk Barrywere at guard, juniors Zackary Angelone and Ethan Thompson started at forward, with senior Dontay Baker at guard.

Faircloth, a transfer from Kingston High School’s varsity basketball team, has been on varsity for two years at Highland and also is on both their football and baseball teams.

“We get hyped in the locker room [before the game] and listen to music as team bonding,” Faircloth said. “We’ll even go out to eat with each other or just chill out after practice and shoot around. I pray before every game [as my pregame ritual].”

Marlboro head coach, Michael Koehler, also believes the crowd makes for a better game.

“Honestly it is usually a lot of fun, and the kids are usually amped up which is great, so we have a pretty good intensity and that is how I like our games to go,” he said.

The Dukes began the first quarter intensely, where Faircloth himself earned five points. Grzechowski, another high point-earner behind Faircloth, earned a three in the first. Tallying points from Samuels, Casey, Drake and senior forward Justin Schwarzbeck, Marlboro led by 13 points.

As always, Baker comes in for the Huskies with a three, where Thompson, highest earner of the game for Highland, earned two and sophomore forward Aden Wiser earned two. The Huskies trailed 20-7 going into the second.

The second quarter was one with many fouls on both sides, however the Huskies had difficulty in capitalizing on the Dukes’ fouls. Grzechowski went 2-3 for free throws in the second, whereas Angelone went 0-3, Barry went 4-4 and Thompson went 1-2 for the Huskies.

In addition to foul shots, Marlboro came in with four from Samuels, three from junior guard Ian Leduc and two from Schwarzbeck. For Highland, junior forward Ronnie Byers tallied four and Wiser added two. The Huskies now were behind Marlboro 39-18 going into the half.

“We’ve been focusing on moving the ball a lot the last couple weeks of practices and this is only our second game in the last three weeks since we had two games since December 28,” Koehler said. “I thought we did well on the offense, though, we definitely showed it defensively. We’re working on a few things, and we’re definitely improving as well.”

The Huskies answered in the third with two from Angelone, 10 from Baker and eight from Thompson, but Marlboro continued pushing to the net. Sophomore guard Chinedu Okasi earned four while Drake earned two, but Faircloth remained a beast on the court, earning nine points. Marlboro led 54-36 going into the final quarter.

“I felt like I did good, got my teammates involved in the game and was scoring pretty easily up in the paint,” Faircloth said.

Samuels stepped up his earnings in the fourth, adding eight points to the board, while senior forward Drew Belcastro added 5, both Grzechowski, Casey and senior center Anthony DiMegglio added two, and junior forward Derek Sherman showed three. Although trailing by almost 20 points, Highland would not stand down. Angelone, Barry and Wiser finished the fourth each adding two, while Byers and Thompson each scored three. The final score was 74-48.

“In practice we have fun and we make it competitive, so everyone is happy and wants to be a part of our team,” Faircloth said.

“We beat them about the same at their place this year. It was a two point game at half and then we kind of opened it up in the third quarter,” Koehler said in agreement. “It is usually competitive, and last year we were 2-1 against them, so it’s usually very competitive.”

Marlboro is now 7-3 overall, but the Huskies get a chance at redemption in their next game on Thursday, Jan. 28 against Pine Plains on their home court.