Stellar guard play? Check.

Strong on-ball defense? Check.

Overcoming a hostile environment? Check.

The final result was as you would expect, and with it, an all-too-familiar one for Dunkirk fans.

OBSERVER Photo by Ashleigh Brown Fredonia’s RJ Koopman attempts to get past Dunkirk defender K’Vion Tell during CCAA Division 1 action on Friday in Dunkirk.

The Hillbillies came away with a 65-56 victory against the Marauders in a Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 game at Dunkirk High School. In doing so, Fredonia finished a sixth straight year of winning every boys basketball contest between the two rival programs.

“I love the Dunkirk rivalry, I love it in every sport. Yeah, there is always pressure, you always want to win,” said Fredonia point guard Luca Gullo. “But Fredonia did what it does best. Today, we showed that.”

The energy of the crowd in the packed gym put Fredonia (9-8, 4-5) in hostile territory early. Dunkirk (5-12, 2-9) scored first on a second-chance layup by Camryn Martucci, who earned himself more playing time recently after a strong showing against Olean.

“This is a great atmosphere. It’s so loud, with great fans on either side. Everyone is talking their trash, it’s awesome,” said Gullo. “Going into this game, our coach said this was going to be a playoff game.”

As is tradition in the storied rivalry, someone always steps into the spotlight when the lights are the brightest in the regular season. Friday, it wasn’t one player who assumed that role, it was two — and they happen to play together in Fredonia’s backcourt.

OBSERVER Photo by Ashleigh Brown Dunkirk’s Malik McCall attempts a dunk as Fredonia’s Ashton Putney looks on.

In the first quarter, it was shooting guard R.J. Koopman who was ready for the moment. Much like his older sister, Ella, did on the same floor a year prior, R.J. Koopman electrified the Fredonia fan section with big shots from beyond the arc. He didn’t need a half-court buzzer-beater to keep the Koopman name at the forefront of the rivalry like his sister did; instead, he chose quantity — with three first-quarter 3-pointers and five on the night in all.

“It’s Dunkirk-Fredonia. We know what that means. We know the passion by both communities and the great environment. The level of play gets elevated in this game,” said Fredonia head coach Nick Bertrando. ” … R.J. had a stellar game today.”

Fredonia led 17-14 after the first quarter, and to limit Koopman, Dunkirk upped its defensive pressure on him through face guarding, just as it was with Fredonia’s leading scorer entering the game, Ashton Putney. That left it up to Gullo to run the offense as the go-to threat, rather than as a distributor, and he was more than willing to answer the call.

“I knew it was my time to start making buckets,” Gullo said of Dunkirk’s adjustments to keep Koopman and Putney from getting open looks. “I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do, and today, it was to score. I did what I had to do. Our guys trust me to make buckets and I trust them to make the right reads.”

Gullo had 9 points in the second quarter as Fredonia maintained its lead the entire period. He had all 7 of Fredonia’s points in the first half of the second quarter and provided a cushion for the Hillbillies to take a 31-25 lead into the break. The Fredonia backcourt matched Dunkirk’s entire team in points in the first half with 25.

“What I saw was both teams trying to battle, right from the jump,” said Dunkirk head coach Sixto Rosario. “We asked our team to battle with them. … We were keeping pace with them.”

Fredonia pulled ahead by 9 points early in the third quarter, but Dunkirk made a run to cut it to within 2 points twice, including a 3-pointer by K’Vion Tell, which he followed with a steal and a layup just past the halfway point of the third quarter.

Gullo responded with a layup, then after Dunkirk’s Greg Orcutt answered, Gullo sunk a layup through contact and completed the three-point play. After a defensive stop, Koopman added a layup on the next Fredonia possession to put the Hillbillies back up by 7 points.

From that point on, the game was never again within a single possession. Fredonia pulled ahead by as many as 15 points in the final period following 6 straight points sparked by Malachi Hall’s and-one layup. That play stood out in the mind of Fredonia’s head coach, as Bertrando noted he was pleased with the play of his two bigs off the bench, Hall and Brennan Lincoln.

While Fredonia won by just 9 points, the Hillbillies only trailed after the game’s first bucket. After sinking the next two buckets, Fredonia led for the remaining 31 minutes of action.

“With the ebbs and flows of the game, that lead could dissipate very, very quickly. We made it a point to say, ‘We want to be aggressive. We want to come out and establish our identity, coming out full bore, pedal to the metal on both sides of the ball,” Bertrando said.

Fredonia’s backcourt of Koopman and Gullo led the way with 49 points between the two, 27 of which came from Koopman. Only four other players scored for the Hillbillies, and third on the team for the night was Ashton Putney, who was held to just 6 points.

“We know we can make those shots. If they are going to step on us, we can distribute to other guys. That’s why I love this team — we’ve got so many weapons and we used them all tonight,” said Gullo.

Tell led Dunkirk with 23 points on the night. He was the consistent threat on the Dunkirk offense as the Fredonia defense kept the rest of the Marauders in check.

“He listened. He did what we asked him to do,” Rosario said of Tell’s performance. “He played well. I’m proud of him. He’s a young guy, he’ll get another chance at Fredonia.”

Dunkirk’s second leading scorer on the night was Greg Orcutt, who finished with 14 points, but was held scoreless in the opening frame and had just 4 points in the first half. Similarly, Malik McCall only had 2 points in the first half and finished with 8 points, good for third on the team on Friday.

“It was just a great game, it was a great atmosphere. I loved the fans and the families that came out,” Rosario said. “It wasn’t the result we wanted, but maybe there’s another year.”

Looking ahead, the Hillbillies have three more league contests on the year, including both matchups with Southwestern.

“Now we know we can play in a loud environment. We can play in a hostile environment. This goes to show that we want to be winning games to get to Buff. State. We’ve just got to get there now,” Gullo said.

The Marauders have three games left in the regular season, all of which come at home.

“We play in a tough division. Every week, each opponent is hard to put something together against,” Rosario said. ” … But we learn from this. We’ve seen it and faced it all season. Now we’re ready for it in the playoffs.”

FREDONIA (65)

Luce 1 0 2, Dowdy 2 0 4, Gullo 8 6 22, Koopman 9 4 27, Lancaster 0 0 0, APutney 2 2 6, Lincoln 0 0 0, Hall 1 2 4. Totals 23 14 65.

DUNKIRK (56)

Tell 7 6 23, McQuiggan 0 0 0, McCall 3 2 8, Gutierrez 1 0 2, Martucci 1 0 2, Strong 0 1 1, Orcutt 6 2 14, Krystofiak 1 0 2, Paz 0 0 0, Morales 0 0 0, Cheverez 1 2 4. Totals 20 13 56.

3-point goals–Koopman 5, Tell 3.

Fredonia 17 14 18 16 — 65

Dunkirk 14 11 16 15 — 56