Dunkirk’s Julian Pagan (front) attempts a layup, while Chautauqua Lake’s Bryan Anderson soars to attempt to block the shot during Tuesday’s boys basketball game at Dunkirk High School. Chautauqua Lake won, 78-58.

After a 79-37 loss in Fredonia last week, Chautauqua Lake head coach Mike Putney was unsure about his team’s effort and wondered if the boys had stopped buying in to the goals they had by the end of the night.

Now, after a full week to regroup and get back on track, it’s fair to say the Thunderbirds figured things out quite a bit since then.

The Chautauqua Lake Thunderbirds left no doubt in anyone’s mind on Tuesday night, with a dominant defeat of the Dunkirk Marauders, 78-58, in a CCAA Division 1 West boys basketball league contest at Dunkirk High School.

“It’s huge for our program, because we’ve been working through a lot of adversity,” said Chautauqua Lake head coach Mike Putney. “These guys needed to step up and I’m very proud of them.”

Chautauqua Lake (6-4, 2-4) jumped ahead 8-1 early in the first quarter after back-to-back 3-pointers from Luke Waters, just under three minutes into the game. After an early timeout, Chautauqua Lake kept the run going, stretching the lead to 15-1 with 3:30 remaining in the frame.

“(Last week) was a wake-up call,” said Chautauqua Lake’s Zach Fischer. “We found out who wanted to be here and who wanted to work. We had a great week of practice and really pushed ourselves and it showed.”

Dunkirk (1-11, 0-6) cut into the lead a bit as the time wound down in the quarter, but Chautauqua Lake’s Kyler Majka ended the period with a 3-pointer just before the buzzer. Chautauqua Lake led 24-6 after the first quarter.

Dunkirk — who lost its second option on offense, Devon Kubasik, to an ankle injury in the first quarter, and did not return to the game — fell behind by even more in the second quarter.

“I really think they are so well-coached,” said Dunkirk coach Luke Gullo. “You’ve got to take your hat off to them. They beat us down in the first half.”

The score at the half was 45-16 in favor of Chautauqua Lake. The Thunderbirds were on the wrong side of a very similar score just one town over a week earlier, but this time, Chautauqua Lake had it all working.

“We needed that (time off),” said Putney. “We needed to find ourselves again and come together as a team, to do the little things. They were able to do that and they were excited to play.”

A big part of why was the production of Fischer.

After just six points last week in Fredonia, Fischer tripled that total in the first half along on Tuesday. Putney even tried to give Fischer a break toward the end of the game, but Dunkirk made a run in the third quarter that ended those plans rather quickly. Dunkirk outscored the Thunderbirds 25-15 in the third quarter and cut the 29 point halftime deficit down to 15 in the fourth quarter.

“That’s where we’re at. We have glimpses of the potential of what we can do,” said Gullo. “Other parts of the game, we’re still working on. … As poorly as we played through the second quarter, we probably played our best quarter of ball in the third quarter.”

Fischer then re-entered the game with 4:30 remaining and played the rest of the way to the finish. He finished with 29 points on the night, leaving the senior guard just 51 points shy of 1,000 in his career.

“It’s in my mind a little bit,” said Fischer of the milestone. “But I’m more of a team guy. I don’t really care about the personal stuff. I’m here to win.”

For Chautauqua Lake, Tuesday was a statement that the Thunderbirds are not the team that showed up — or failed to, anyway — in Fredonia last week. After the week of rest, the Thunderbirds are starting fresh, with the focus solely on preparing for the sectional playoffs.

For Dunkirk, there were signs of growth for a young, inexperienced team.

“There were a lot of winning moments, and that’s really what we’re teaching,” said Gullo. “Hopefully by playoffs, we will have our true identity.”

Chautauqua Lake had four scorers in double figures, including Fischer’s 29 points. Waters and Nate Adams each had 13, while Bryan Anderson had 10.

Dunkirk was led by Earl Stewart’s team-high 22 points and 16 rebounds.

“He’s good. He’s real good,” said Fischer of Stewart. “He’s quick and he made me kind of want to show who I was. I didn’t want to get embarrassed, honestly.”

Amarion Tell, recently called up from the JV team, had 14 points and seven rebounds for Dunkirk. Sebastian Capuno added 10 points, while Julian Pagan had eight points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Moving forward, Dunkirk hosts Maple Grove on Thursday, while Chautauqua Lake heads to Southwestern on Thursday. Both contests are league games.

Tuesday was a statement for both teams.

For Dunkirk, there were huge signs of improvement, especially after such a slow start. Gullo hopes to see that sort of effort every time his team hits the court.

“All in all, I could not be prouder of this group of young men,” said Gullo. “It’s really quite amazing how they respond and they learn.”

For Chautauqua Lake, they proved that when everyone is on the same page, they can score with anyone.

“This says we’re coming together,” said Fischer. “I told (my team) we’re 1-0 now. Halfway through the year, but we’re 1-0 now.”

Twitter: @bradencarmen