The Marlboro boys’ basketball team led the Rondout Valley Ganders for more than 3 1/2 quarters.

It wasn’t enough, as the Ganders overtook the Iron Dukes with 3:32 left in the game, and never looked back for a 46-38 Mid Hudson Athletic League Division II victory on Friday night, spoiling Senior Night for four Marlboro seniors.

“We played really hard,” Marlboro coach Mike Koehler said. “We obviously were undersized. We got on the offensive. We got great looks, but they didn’t drop. It was a great effort, but a couple of rebounds hurt us for second-chance points.”

Senior Prince Owens led the Iron Dukes with a game-high 18 points.

Before the game, the Iron Dukes honored Owens, along with the team’s other seniors, Devin Dirago, Seth Torres and Jason Price. Before Rondout Valley’s Ethan Dean hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer to give the Gander the lead for good, the Iron Dukes had the inside track to sending their seniors out with a victory.

“They did great,” Koehler said. “Devin came out in the second half and played great defense. Jay came out and played hard, and got a couple of rebounds, so it was nice to see them, and Prince plays hard. He goes hard the whole time.”

Dean led the Ganders with 14 points, while Zach Banks and Terrence Stange scored 10 points each.

Wins have been hard to come by for the Iron Dukes this season, as they finished the week with a 1-17 record. They haven’t won since a 62-21 win over Webutuck on December 21, 2022.
Earlier this week, they suffered a 50-38 loss to the Highland Huskies, who also beat Millbrook on Friday. During Wednesday’s game against Highland, it was a 16-2 run in the third quarter that sealed the Iron Dukes’ fate.

Reid Berean led the Huskies with 19 points, while Jakob Bishop grabbed nine rebounds and scored seven points. The day before, Red Hook beat them, 58-51, a vast improvement over their 60-25 loss to the Raiders on January 10.

They also lost to Mid Hudson Athletic League Division III leader Spackenkill by eight points on February 4.

“We’ve gotten better,” Koehler said. “We played great defense. It’s the offensive end we sometimes struggle, and you can see that we need a whole game. Defensively, we’re pretty solid.”
Some aspects of the offense are getting better. During Friday’s loss to Rondout Valley, sophomore Thomas Benfer had one of his biggest nights of the year, scoring 12 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter.

He hit a pair of free throws to give the Iron Dukes’ a 31-28 lead with 6:41 left in the game, and he hit also hit a jump shot with 5:55 left to break a 31-31 tie.

“I told (Benfer) that at the beginning of the season he wasn’t doing that,” Koehler said. “He’s come a long way. He’s attacking the basket and he’s improved on making his free throws. He’s improved in every aspect of the game, and it’s been awesome to see.”

The Iron Dukes have two more games remaining to get that elusive second win, a pair of home-and-home games against Onteora.

“All you can do is give everything you have every day,” Koehler said.