Dieudonne lifts Wolverines
Wellington advances behind junior’s game-high 15 points.
WELLINGTON — Like it has all season, the Wellington boys basketball team relied on a rotating cast of playmakers to take charge of a game.
Thursday night, it was Alex Dieudonne’s turn. The junior forward scored a game-high 15 points — all in the second half — to lead the host Wolverines to a 40-38 victory over Spanish River in a Class 8A regional quarterfinal.
The win was Wellington’s 12th in a row dating to Jan. 6 and its most important. The Wolverines (25-3), who lost to the Sharks (19-7) in overtime in the regional quarterfinals last season, advance to face Jupiter in a Class 8A regional semifinal Tuesday.
The Wolverines have beaten the Warriors three times this season, including a 24-point win in last week’s District 9-8A championship game.
“This feels good,” said Wolverines coach Matt Colin, whose team overcame a sloppy first half to hold off the Sharks. “But what feels great is that we’re able to play and move on to the next round.”’
Wellington struggled early, committing five fouls in the first 2½ minutes of play and never finding its shooting rhythm.
The Sharks also struggled on offense, converting just 1 of 6 free throws in the first quarter and hitting just one shot from the field in the period, which ended with Wellington leading 8-4.
The second quarter wasn’t much better for Wellington, which continued to shoot poorly. The Sharks were a little more accurate, and took a 16-14 lead late in the second quarter before Nick Brown’s jumper at the buzzer tied it at 16.
“We had a little bit of everything go wrong for us in the first half,” Colin said.
Wellington finally got its offense untracked in the second half, but was matched shot-for-shot by Spanish River.
A five-point Wolverines’ lead late in the third quarter was its largest of the game, and was quickly whittled to 30-28 by the start of the fourth quarter.
“That’s a well-coached team,” Colin said of Spanish River. “They play defense like no other team we’ve seen this year.”
The Sharks and Wolver- ines traded the lead for much of the fourth quarter, with Spanish River going up 37-34 with 2:15 remaining on two Jaelin Jackson free throws.
Dieudonne then took over, cutting the Sharks’ lead to one and then giving Wellington a 38-37 lead with 52 seconds left.
Two Sage Chen-Young free throws with 22 seconds remaining stretched Wellington’s lead to 4037. Quinton Duval then hit 1 of 2 free throws with 12 seconds left for Spanish River to pull within 4038, but the Sharks weren’t able to get any closer.
Duval led the Sharks with 10 points and Brandon Kemmerer and Daron Johnson each added eight. Trent Frazier had seven points for Wellington and Lester Gates and Brown each added six.