PARK SLOPE, BK-Nobody had to remind Coach Carmine Giovino’s Berkeley Carroll Lions what happened the last time they played Dwight. A week moved from a tough loss to the same team, the JV Boys weren’t about to let it happen twice on their own floor.

There was plenty of incentive off a dreadful showing the other day at Packer. Most importantly, Giovino’s club needed a bounce back effort and that’s exactly what they delivered in holding off Dwight 43-42 at the BC Athletic Center in The Slope Friday- posting a big ACIS league win with the playoffs nearing.

Wearing the road red jerseys due to it being Dwight’s home half of a double dip, the Lions overcame a few sloppy possessions to stay right with their midtown rivals. A couple of unforced back courts had Giovino turning his head. But his team settled down trailing 11-8 after a quarter.

It was in the second where they turned the game around, outscoring their opponent 18-8 to take a seven-point lead into the locker room. The key was superb defense while on the other end some nice ball movement allowed Dondre Benson to go to work. The Lions’ top threat hit double digits, getting his points in the flow with other teammates stepping up including Blaise Cohen, who injected a lot of energy with strong finishes and clutch rebounding.

A pleased Giovino rewarded Cohen during the second half when things tightened up. Due to outstanding play from their top guard, Dwight never went away slowly chipping away at a 10-point lead. It took a team effort to stay in front. Mike Andria also hit the glass drawing fouls, pleasing his coach. Max Jens came in and went backdoor for a lay-in. Those kind of contributions were exactly the recipe.

Milo Ben Amotz, Will Perry, Anthony Spina and Robert Graham all saw key minutes along with Duncan Hardy. Graham had an interesting day doing some good things defensively but also making a couple of mistakes that drove Giovino nuts. With BC in front 35-27, a quick Dwight transition bucket cut it to six in the final stanza.

Facing a press, Graham went to the well once too many times tossing the ball off the defender’s back but instead of retrieving it, he watched the hosts turn it into a quick deuce, suddenly making it 35-31 with under four minutes left. In the half court facing pressure, he was forced to use the team’s final timeout which caught flak. Especially with three and change to go. An eternity in hoop terms.

A couple of good defensive stops kept them ahead by four. That’s when Benson made a huge basket, hitting a runner from 15 to extend back to six. But Dwight wouldn’t die staying within reach. It would go to the wire.

Down three, Dwight got a 14 footer to roll in slicing it to one with 36.5 seconds remaining. Their coach immediately told his players to foul and they obliged putting Graham on the line for two nervy free throws. Fittingly, he calmly drained both to put BC ahead 43-40, forcing the hosts to burn their final timeout. With Giovino emphasizing no three’s, his team extended out forcing a miss. Though Dwight had a putback with a second to spare, it proved too late as the buzzer sounded, giving the Lions a deserved win.