DUXBURY – In a matchup of two of the best teams in the state, it came down to a late tally and some timely goalkeeping as Duxbury pulled off a win at home.

The Dragons did just about everything to fend off a tough Lincoln-Sudbury in a nonleague tilt and ended up with an 11-9 victory last night to make it 12 straight victories.

“At the beginning of the game (Lincoln-Sudbury) was winning the groundballs, they had more energy,” said Duxbury coach Chris Sweet. “They were scrappier. At some point, we had to match that. Once we did, things turned our way. We had more possessions and then we went on that run in the third quarter.”

With a slim lead at the half, Duxbury (13-1) scored three straight to make it 9-5 with two of those coming off the stick of senior Colin Hulett.

“(Hulett) finds the ball,” Sweet said. “He is smart off ball and he gets a lot of goals when he comes off ball.”

Hulett finished the night with six goals, including the final tally to make it an 11-9 contest with 3:19 left.

“It’s good,” Hulett said about playing top competition. “Iron sharpens iron. We get better when we play these good teams and that’s how we get better.”

Lincoln-Sudbury (7-4) responded with four of the next five tallies as senior captain Drew Laguerre scored two of those.

With the Warriors controlling possession, senior Max Mazanec stood on his head a bit with five of his 13 saves in the final frame, including a couple with only a 10-9 advantage.

“That’s the kind of goaltending you need in a game like this,” Sweet said. “I just felt like it was two evenly matched teams and we were fortunate enough to get two more than they did.”

In the first half, it was Lincoln-Sudbury that controlled possession as they outshot Duxbury 13-8 over the first 24 minutes.

The Dragons scored first as Hulett made it 1-0 just 1:01 into the contest. The Warriors responded with three over a five-minute span as Dante Venuto, Owen Greene and Laguerre all scored to make it 3-1.

Duxbury answered with two goals over the final 2:10, including a shot by Hulett to make it 3-3 after one.

To start the second, Laguerre once again found the back of the net to make it 4-3 just 57 seconds into the frame.

Hulett made it a hat trick early in the second to make it 4-4 before senior Zach Falls gave Duxbury back the lead at 5-4.

Lincoln-Sudbury’s Nolan Martindale knotted the score with a tally before the Dragons retook the lead with 2:42 left in the second on a Sam Wien goal.

Next up, Duxbury will play at Scituate on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Lincoln-Sudbury will host St. John’s Prep on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

Duxbury’s Zach Falls, left, celebrates his goal with Colin Hulett during an 11-9 win over Lincoln-Sudbury. (Staff Photo/Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)