A hot start led to a wire-to-wire win for Dixon on Tuesday over Big Northern Conference rival Oregon.

The Dukes led by double digits less than three minutes into the game and never trailed in a 60-53 victory at Lancaster Gym.

“I think it was all confidence from Saturday, coming off a big win over Lutheran,” Brody Nicklaus said. “I told the boys [before the game], ‘Let’s just come out with that same energy.’ We started off hot against Lutheran, and we just wanted to start out the same way tonight. We came out hot, got the lead and held them to eight points in a great first quarter.”

Nicklaus opened the game with a steal and layup, then Dixon (9-14, 4-2 BNC) scored the next 10 points – from three different players – to take a 12-0 lead just 2:49 in.

The last basket came on an all-out hustle play by Jimi Gosinski. He tipped a pass, then dove to the court and tapped the ball into the backcourt to keep Oregon from recovering – then dove to the court again to recover the loose ball. He managed to pass it to a streaking Xavion Jones for a layup.

“That steal by Jimi at half-court, that really set the tone and brought up our energy a lot,” Jakob Nicklaus said. “I feel like we just really pressured the ball really well. We knew we needed to do that to catch them off guard at the start.”

Trailing 18-6 late in the first, Oregon (19-7, 4-3 BNC) got seven straight points from Cooper Johnson and a 3-pointer from Brian Wallace to cut the deficit to 18-16. But two Beckham Rock jumpers sandwiched a 3 by Jakob Nicklaus as Dixon stretched the lead back to 27-19.

The Hawks got baskets from Wallace, Johnson and Ethan Peeling to make it 27-25, but Jakob and Brody Nicklaus both hit 3s to give Dixon a 34-27 lead at halftime.

The Dukes then got two 3s from each of the Nicklaus cousins in the third quarter, and Jones and Armahn McGowan both scored inside for a 50-34 lead.

“We know we can’t slow down or let up, because that happened a couple times early in the season where we got up early and then we let off the gas and teams came back and we ended up losing,” Jakob Nicklaus said. “It’s been kind of a tough season for us, and I feel like we’re really starting to get over a hump that we’ve been trying to get over. I think we’re seeing that we can be a good team that teams are going to have to compete with.”

The Hawks had one more run in them. Wallace hit a 3, then Keaton Salsbury, Tucker O’Brien and Benny Olalde all scored inside before another Wallace 3 and Olalde layup cut the deficit to 54-51 with 2:15 to play.

But Brody Nicklaus zipped a pass to Jones for a layup for the second time in the quarter, then hit four free throws in the final two minutes to seal the deal.

“We’ve done that the last couple games. We dig ourselves a hole and then we’ve got to dig ourselves out of it,” Oregon coach Jarrett Reynolds said. “We just couldn’t get over the hump. If we could just not start a basketball game like that, that’s the key.”

Brody Nicklaus hit three 3s and went 6-for-6 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter to finish with 19 points, six assists, three rebounds, three steals and a block for the Dukes. Jakob Nicklaus hit four 3s and had 16 points and four rebounds, while Jones added 12 points, eight rebounds and two assists. McGowan was a beast on the boards, grabbing 18 rebounds to go with six points, four steals and two assists, and Rock chipped in five points and two assists.

“We shouted out everybody in the locker room because all the hard work we’ve been putting in has been showing out. A lot of guys stepped up tonight,” Brody Nicklaus said. “When our offense was slacking, we picked it up on defense, and when our defense was slacking, we got it back on offense. It was just all-around tonight, just kept getting confidence from different areas.”

Johnson’s 16 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists led the Hawks, and Wallace added 11 points and three steals. Olalde had nine points, four rebounds, three steals and a block, Salsbury scored six points, Peeling added five points, three rebounds and two steals and O’Brien chipped in four points, seven rebounds, four steals and a block.

“I don’t think at this point in the season you can flush games away anymore. You want to play your best ball in the postseason,” Reynolds said. “It’s just everything from here on out is a huge learning moment, so it’s when are we going to learn? We’ll see; I hope we do.”