“Our boys have improved,” Gullo said. “I think tonight we just ran into a juggernaut. That’s a special team over there. We knew about Tariq Eubanks, and their big fella, Massai Graham, has blossomed in his own right. They played really hard. What are you going to do? They’re going to be a nice team to watch.”

While Dunkirk (0-1) was able to keep it close through one quarter, trailing 28-17 after the first frame, the Thunderhawks were able to pull away in the second, outscoring the Marauders 28-15 in the quarter to head into halftime with a 56-32 lead.

The Marauders had trouble containing Tapestry’s Graham, who in the first quarter put the Marauders on a poster with an emphatic slam that put Tapestry (1-0) up 8-2 early on.

Graham was only getting started.

Dunkirk’s A’marion Tell (right) is guarded closely by a Tapestry defender during Thursday’s non-league boys basketball game at Dunkirk High School. OBSERVER Photo by Ron Szot.

With his team up at the half, Graham had done a little bit of everything, scoring nine points, seven of which came in the second frame. The 6-foot-7 sophomore also had two emphatic rejections that set the tone for the rest of the game.

Dunkirk’s bright spots in the first half included junior Christian Ortiz, playing in his first basketball game as a Marauder, who finished with 15 points in the game. Dunkirk also got a couple nice early shots from junior Carlos Villafane. Those two kept the Marauders in the game through the first quarter, but Tapestry’s size and talent just took over.

“Our younger guys blossomed and stepped up tonight,” Gullo said. “Villafane is someone we’ve had our eye on for a while. We’re a young team and we’re only going to get better. Timmy Brown is a sophomore, A’marion Tell is a sophomore. We’re going to mature and get better.”

The second half continued in favor of Tapestry, as Graham was only getting started. Graham put up six points in the third quarter, as he finished with 19 points on the game, with his two most impressive points coming on an alley-oop from Eubanks.

The Marauders wouldn’t go down without a fight though, as they were able to cut the deficit back to 25 when they were trailing by 40, but the raw athleticism was too much for the young Marauders to handle. Two of the older players, Ortiz and Davon Kubasik were asked to do a lot for the Marauders, and Gullo noticed they were up to the task.

“We are looking for Davon to be our leader this year,” Gullo said. “He has to handle the ball and tonight he did that. We probably won’t see defensive pressure like that again the rest of the year, but if we do, he’ll be ready for it and Ortiz does everything we ask of him, he is a tireless warhorse. We saw it in football too. He’s only a junior, his basketball skill level is going to rise so much this year.”

The Marauders will look to re-gather themselves against the Westfield Wolverines against on Monday, and Gullo knows one thing his team has to improve between now and then.

“Our man to man defense has got to come farther. The kids have never played man to man here, and it’s one of our staples,” Gullo said. “Westfield has a good squad. We’re looking forward to that.”

Ortiz led Dunkirk scorers with 15 points, while Tell and Villafane each had 13. The game’s high scorer was Graham, who had 19, while Eubanks, Romeo Bell, and Lamar Matthews each had 16 for Tapestry.