By Mike Zummo

The Marlboro boys’ basketball team had been trailing Franklin D. Roosevelt for most of the seventh-place game of the Duane Davis Christmas Tournament at Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie.

They had a hard time closing the gap by more than five points.

They trailed by as many as seven points when the Dukes went on a 10-point run to overtake the Presidents and secure a 43-39 win on Thursday to take seventh in the tournament.

It was not only the Iron Dukes’ first win of the tournament, but also the first win of the season in their fourth game.

“It felt good (to get a win),” junior Matt Ciarimboli said. “Everybody else in this tournament has played seven or eight games so far. We’re still just getting into it. We’re starting to gel. It’s getting easier, and it’s getting better.”

The Presidents led the Iron Dukes, 35-28 when Ciarimboli knocked down a pair of free throws to pull his team back to within five points. Then, sophomore Ny’eem Douglas knocked down a 3-point basket, bringing the score to 35-33.

“It felt great,” Douglas said. “I don’t normally shoot as much.”

Then Marlboro got a key contribution off the bench as Daniel Conrad hit a layup to tie the game at 35-35.

Then Douglas scored on a putback to give the Iron Dukes a 37-35 lead with 3 minutes to go. Nearly 30 seconds later, he hit a free throw to give Marlboro a three-point lead.

“We just had to run our offense and we got some open buckets,” Douglas said.

The Presidents weren’t done yet, however.

Artrese Robinson hit a layup to pull the Presidents to within a point, but Douglas knocked down to give the Iron Dukes a four-point lead.

“Ny’eem was good,” Marlboro coach Ryan Brooks said. “He converted. He’s a sophomore so that was big for him to step up in that situation, knock down some free throws, get good drives to the basket, and he even finished with a 3.”

The Iron Dukes’ fourth-quarter lead was the first time they led the Presidents 4-3 in the first quarter. All game, Marlboro struggled on the glass against the taller FDR team.

“Pretty much everybody has a big height advantage,” Ciarimboli said. “We’re getting used to playing against it and just being scrappy by playing defense and getting steals.”

It was the steals and rebounds that helped the Iron Dukes finally overtake the Presidents. After struggling on the boards for more than three quarters, Ciarimboli’s steal set up Douglas’ first 3, and the Iron Dukes had six rebounds and a block down the stretch.

“We had guys in better positions to get rebounds, but we did come up big,” Brooks said. “We boxed out much better down the stretch, knowing each possession is going to be huge. You can’t give a team like that second-chance points and extra possessions.”

The Dukes finished the tournament on a positive note, after suffering two straight losses to start. They opened on Wednesday night with a 75-42 loss to the host Our Lady of Lourdes Warriors and then lost their first consolation game on Thursday to Roy C. Ketcham.

“We came up short yesterday against Ketcham,” Brooks said. “It was nice to bounce back today and get that win going into league play at the start of the year.”