So the Marauders were in fairly unfamiliar territory, down by 12 after two quarters Thursday evening.

But Sixto Rosario’s team put an uneven first half behind them and got to work in the final 16 minutes.

Aries Cheverez scored 16 points to lead three Marauders in double figures as Dunkirk outscored Falconer 34-19 in the second half en route to a 57-54 Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 victory.

“We’re just a second-half team. They just came out and gave everything they had,” said Rosario, Dunkirk’s head coach. “Kudos to them, they worked hard as a team and started talking more on defense.”

Dunkirk's K'Vion Tell puts up a jumper along the baseline while being defended by Falconer's Donovan Delaney (0) and Max Parmentier during Thursday's CCAA Division 1 boys basketball game in Falconer. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

The Marauders (9-1, 4-1) took advantage of nine third-quarter turnovers by the Golden Falcons (7-4, 2-2) to turn a 14-point game into a five-point game entering the fourth quarter.

Cheverez hit his third 3-pointer to tie the game at 43-all with 4:21 remaining. After Chase Bianco scored for Falconer, a 3-pointer from Naisaih Rodriguez rattled home to give Dunkirk its first lead since late in the first quarter.

“It’s a momentum builder. It lifts you up and you just go with it,” Rosario said about the 3-point shot. “Those did bring us right back into the game.”

D’Mitri Carlson answered with a three-point play for the Golden Falcons to give his team a 46-46 lead with 2:25 left, but K’Vion Tell’s lone 3-pointer of the game 11 seconds later made it 49-48 in favor of the Marauders.

“When you play a 2-3 defense, you are asking a lot out of the kids. You are asking them to cover a lot of ground and you are asking for the rotation to be just about perfect. … I thought there were parts of the game where we executed that tremendously,” Falconer head coach Cordell O’Brien said. “Ultimately, late in the fourth quarter, they really knocked down some tough shots that I can’t be too upset with our guys about. Sometimes, even when you are in good position, their guys can knock down some shots.”

Dunkirk's Aries Cheverez takes the ball to the basket in front of Falconer's Max Parmentier during Thursday's CCAA Division 1 boys basketball game in Falconer. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Tell followed with another bucket before Cheverez added a free throw and Jayden Kenner scored on a putback to give Dunkirk a six-point lead with just over a minute remaining.

Falconer’s Donovan Delaney hit a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left, but Tell put the game away at the foul line.

“K’Vion is really important to the team, as well as the other players,” Rosario said. “Having the ball in his hands at the end, it’s either him, Aries or Malik (McCall). They’re going to hit that shot for us. … It happened to be K’Vion and he knew what to do.”

The teams were tied at 15 apiece after a first quarter during which the Marauders hit four 3-pointers. Falconer built its double-digit halftime advantage on the strength of a second quarter during which the Golden Falcons went 8 of 12 from the field, including 3 of 3 from 3-point range.

“In the first half, I felt like we were just a lot more poised. We trusted our offense and made them defend for a full 35 seconds. That really allowed us to be successful offensively and get some good, high-percentage shots,” O’Brien said. “In the second half, I think we kind of got a little antsy on offense and got a little carried away, forcing some unnecessary shots.”

Falconer's Donovan Delaney goes up for a layup during the second half of Thursday's CCAA Division 1 boys basketball game against Dunkirk in Falconer. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Falconer will look to get back in the win column Monday at Allegany-Limestone while Dunkirk is off until next Thursday when it hosts that same Gators team.

“We’re about halfway through the season, but up to this point we’ve kind of been able to close out some of these games late in the fourth when it’s been tight,” O’Brien said. “Tonight just wasn’t our night.”

NOTES: Tell had 14 points, McCall had 13 points and Rodriguez had 9 for Dunkirk, which shot 18 of 53 from the field, including 8 of 26 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 13 times. … Bianco had 15 points, four assists and three steals; Delaney had 13 points; Carlson had 12 points; Max Parmentier had 11 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots; and Marcus Parmentier had eight rebounds for Falconer, which shot 21 of 42 from the field, including 6 of 9 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 20 times.

DUNKIRK (57)

Tell 4 5 14, McQuiggan 0 0 0, Rodriguez 3 0 9, McCall 4 4 13, Kenner 2 0 4, Krystofiak 0 0 0, Carr 0 0 0, Cheverez 5 3 16. Totals 18 13 57.

Dunkirk's Jayden Kenner takes the ball away from Falconer's D'Mitri Carlson during Thursday's CCAA Division 1 boys basketball game in Falconer. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

FALCONER (54)

Delaney 4 2 13, Carlson 4 3 12, Bianco 7 0 15, MaxParmentier 5 0 11, MarParmentier 1 1 3, Washington 0 0 0, Nutt 0 0 0. Totals 21 6 54.

3-point goals–Tell, Rodriguez 3, McCall, Cheverez 3, Delaney 3, Carlson, Bianco, MaxParmentier.

Dunkirk 15 8 13 21 — 57

Falconer 15 20 6 13 — 54