By Tom Kleiser
Dale took the lead late in the second quarter and held on to down the Castle Knights in a sloppy opener for both teams, 47-44.
The Aces, who were expected to handle the Knights with relative ease, ran into trouble early in the first quarter when the Knights jumped out to a 6 point lead and at the end of the first period the Aces found themselves behind 12-7. Dale, however pulled together a little in the second quarter and went to the lockers at half-time with a slim 20-19 lead.
In the third quarter, Dale applied a full-court press, gained a 4 point lead and held on to post the win.
Rick Hufnagel led all scorers with 18, Roger Southwood added 12 and Jay Guth pumped in 11.
Jerry Grandson and Terry Braum led Castle with 12 and 10 points respectively.
In the preliminary, the Castle J.V.’s posted a 56-31 win over the Aces.
