DEDHAM, Mass. — Dexter Southfield and Nobles are two boys prep basketball programs on the rise in New England. Each are led by rookie head coaches – Matt Droney at Dexter, Lambros Papalamabros at Nobles – who have made an immediate imprint on their teams and directed them to strong – and in some ways, better-than-expected – starts in Year 1.
On Saturday, they met for the first time, and it was easy to see why.
Dexter prevailed, 57-56, for a gritty road win over Nobles, in a game that truly could have gone either way. They constantly traded leads throughout an incredibly competitive second half that featured loud, big-time plays on both ends, some chippiness and just purely good and enjoyable basketball. Dexter (15-4) and Nobles (8-8) have bright futures ahead of them under two young coaches in Droney and Papalambros; both are bringing positive energy to their programs, are strong basketball tacticians and play-callers, and have clear buy-in from their players, visible with how hard they play.
Ultimately, Dexter came through in the final, pressure moments. Owen Schuller drilled a go-ahead triple from the wing with a minute to go, and then they relied on defense to get them to the finish line. Moments later, Dexter forced Nobles into a five-second inbounding violation. Then, with seven seconds to go, Dexter’s Alex Dudley played strong defense on Nobles star Drew Kahn, whose last-second shot missed.
