For Silver Creek’s Ralph Jackson and Dunkirk’s Luke Gullo, there was quite a bit to take away, as the Marauders downed the Black Knights, 62-30, Wednesday night.

The Marauders got off to a quick 13-0 run to start the first quarter, and never looked back from there, with a lot of their chances stemming from the defensive side end.

“We’ve been working and we have a lot of kids that really want to play hard and play good defense,” Gullo said. “The unending hustle and amount of commitment we have is tremendous. It’s nice to see that these kids want to be good and put in the work to do it.”

Dunkirk came at Silver Creek all night with the full-court press, and when Silver Creek could get set up in the offensive zone, the Dunkirk defenders showed off their defensive prowess, aggressively jumping passing lanes and turning those into fast breaks. Running the press is something the Marauders have been working on the most in practice.

Dunkirk’s Christian Ortiz shoots inside in front of Silver Creek’s Matt Woleben during Wednesday’s nonleague boys basketball game in Dunkirk.

“In practice, we decided the best thing we could do for them was teach them the basics of the press, while also allowing them to get game experience.” Gullo said.

Meanwhile, on the offensive end, the Marauders had a balanced attack. Tim Brown led the way with 15 points, Jayshaun Crauser had 14 points, while Christian Ortiz and Carlito Villafane each had 12.

“We may not have a superstar,” Gullo said, “but we have plenty of kids that are all pretty good and work their tails off, and we’re very kind with the ball.”

The stats showed up on the defensive end too, with Donnie Lockett recording six blocks, two steals, and four rebounds, while Amarion Tell had 5 points, nine rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks. After several years of struggling, Gullo thinks the team is finally turning the corner.

“We’ve lost a lot of games in the last two years, and we’re not giving up,” Gullo said. “It’s been a long, strange trip and the kids are the reason we’re here now. We found kids who want to be part of the program and we have the depth that great programs are made of.”

Woleben attempts to pass over Ortiz and Tim Brown.

Meanwhile, for the Black Knights, it appeared to be more of an off night shooting the ball than a sign to panic, which Jackson acknowledged after the game. The Black Knights lost several starters coming into this season, with the only two players returning who had played big minutes being Sam Braidich and Matt Woleben.

“We’re definitely a young team, but I still expect us to compete,” Jackson said. “One of the biggest issues in the game tonight was settling for too many outside shots. I tried to tell them that in an early timeout, but it didn’t click. At times we were aggressive and got to the rim, but we shot way too many threes.”

The Black Knights finished the game making just two 3-pointers on 25 attempts. Another part of the offensive problem for the Black Knights was how the Marauders defended Braidich, as he drew double teams a majority of the time he touched the ball.

“He’s a phenomenal athlete who draws a lot of attention,” Jackson said of Braidich.

Braidich finished the game with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Matt Woleben had 9 points and eight rebounds, and David Warrior had 6 points and five rebounds.

While Jackson is disappointed by the loss, it not being a league game means it was a good time to get out some of the growing pains that young teams experience, especially facing the press that Dunkirk put on them.

“We got some pressure against Cassadaga, but not like tonight throughout the whole game,” Jackson said. “We needed that going into league play. We made a lot of young mistakes against the press, and we had some confusion on our end with defense.”

Dunkirk (1-0) will be back in action at Allegany-Limestone on Friday night at 7:30 p.m., while Silver Creek (1-1) will look to right the ship as Portville comes to town the same day.