The 1-2 punch from Dekovan Thomas and Brayden Lee turned out to be the knockout blow that sent Dakota’s basketball team to its sixth win in seven games this season.

Thomas and Lee combined for 59 points in the Cougars’ 86-72 victory against De La Salle Tuesday in a non-league game.

“Those two stepped up big-time tonight,” said Dakota coach Paul Tocco. “Dekovan has been our big scorer all season and Brayden is very capable. He was a starter as a sophomore and he’s capable of a game like that. We needed both of them to outlast De La Salle.”

Lee scored his first points on a layup in the final seconds of the first quarter, then hit consecutive 3-point baskets early in the second quarter.

“That definitely boosted my confidence, knowing that I can get to the bucket and score,” Lee said. “I started the season a little slow and didn’t play up to my full potential. This game I had the confidence that I haven’t had all season and it really helped. Definitely, this was my best game.”

Thomas, who scored Dakota’s first 11 points, finished with 31 and Lee had 28, including four 3-pointers.

Lee said he got a few more looks against the Pilots.

“We shared the ball really well tonight,” he said. “We had 20 assists. Everyone was sharing the ball.”

The Cougars came out of the first quarter with a 14-11 advantage but De La Salle quickly took the lead on a triple by Armoni Portis and a basket off a turnover by Jason Harris. The teams traded baskets for most of the second quarter until Dakota went on a 10-0 run in the final 2:15 of the half to lead 34-24 at the break.

Ten points by Lee and seven from Thomas stretched the Cougars’ lead to 55-38 with 1:45 left in the third quarter.

Sparked by Harris, Portis and Phoenix Glassnor, the Pilots cut the margin to eight points with a minute and a half to go, but Dakota made 10 free throws down the stretch to hold off the De La Salle comeback bid.

“We tried to climb back in but just didn’t have enough time,” said Pilots coach Denarryl Rice. “We have some resilient kids. You’re going to see them fight every game to give us the opportunity to win. I’m not disappointed at all. You definitely want to come out on the winning side in a heated rivalry but things happen and we’ll move on to the next game.”

Tocco said Dakota’s game plan revolved around containing Glassnor, a Toledo commit who might be the best player in Macomb County this season.

“It was all about Phoenix,” Tocco said. “We went in hoping we could stop him and give some other people shots. The game plan defensively on Phoenix was very complex and our guys did a great job.”

Glassnor picked up two early fouls and sat out much of the first half and finished with 18 points, all in the second half.

Tovin Williams had the main responsibility of making Glassnor work for his points.

“Tovin Williams did an unbelievable job,” Tocco said. “He took the challenge and did a lot of great things defensively and took care of the ball offensively. He followed the game plan.”

Williams also scored 12 points.

Tocco said that the Cougars’ only loss — at Cass Tech — helped prepare Dakota for the De La Salle game.

“This game will help us get ready for the MAC Red,” Tocco said. “We’re just taking it one game at a time but I really believe this group has it in them to win big-time games like this.

“Once we were up we spread it out, made them come to us and we took good shots. We knew they’d make a run at us. Making those free throws was huge, too.”

De La Salle fell to 2-6 but Rice is confident the Pilots can find the winning formula.

“It’s just little fundamental things. Rebounding the basketball, limiting our turnovers and also getting off to a better start,” he said.

Harris led De La Salle with 19 points, Portis had 13 and Spencer Scott finished with 10.