It was more a confusing feeling than anything else. For as long as anyone could remember Dunbar’s boys basketball team had always been in the mix for a DCIAA championship.
But when the Crimson Tide found themselves on the outside looking in during the eight-team postseason tournament last year many felt the program had drifted away from what made it successful.
Apparently it was just a one-year hiatus. Dunbar is back with a vengeance this season. Tuesday evening at home against Wilson, they showed why in a 76-63 victory.
“It’s been three years since we’ve been [to the DCIAA title game],” said senior guard Jamar Harrison. “Missing the [postseason] was a hard thing for us. But we’re older now. And we used it as fuel all summer so we could do this right here.”
The Crimson Tide is flying high at 15-2 and all alone in first place in the DCIAA West Division at 7-0. Harrison scored 19 points and teammates Nate Bussey (14) and James Austin (20) padded Dunbar’s scoring total as well.
It wasn’t a perfect game. The Crimson Tide average just 10 turnovers per game, but were sloppy at times vs. Wilson with 18 turnovers. Dunbar was too good for the Tigers early, however, scoring 18 of the game’s first 20 points. The lead never fell below nine points the rest of the way.
“We held them off the whole second half,” said Harrison. “That’s something we didn’t always do last year. Now we know how to finish teams. That’s what’s really going to get us back to where we need to be.”
Roll Tide
» Dunbar coach Lorenzo Roach played three years for the Crimson Tide before graduating in 1993. His teams played in the City Title game three times, winning once.
» Wilson fell to 9-12 with the loss. The Tigers are 3-4 in the DCIAA West.
» Wilson junior G Carlton Cole finished with a team-high 18 points.
