Dawson Men Win at Miles in a Close One
The DCC Buccaneer basketball team made a statement in Miles City on Sunday afternoon by winning another tough road game in Mon-Dak Conference play. The Bucs beat the Miles Community College Pioneers 86-84. Dawson led from start to finish and even had a 19 point lead with 14:54 remaining in the game. The Pioneers climbed back into it by scoring at the free throw line and a few key 3-pointers. The Bucs went up by three in the closing seconds on two Beau Santistevan free throws. MCC pushed the ball up the floor and drew a foul with 2 seconds remaining. Deondre Northey made the first and purposely missed the second. Teammate Gedeon Buzangu collected the rebound and shot it at the buzzer but it rimmed out to keep the Bucs undefeated in conference play at 6-0 and dropping Miles to 4-2.
Dawson started the game hot and Miles really struggled to score in the early going. The Bucs jumped out to a 9-2 lead and kept the home team at arms length for most of the first half. The Pioneers climbed within 7 at one point, but DCC ended the half strong to go into the locker room with a 47-33 lead. They did it by controlling the boards and holding Miles to 13% shooting from three-point range (2-15). Devin Collins broke out for 14 points in the first half and Santistevan added 10 more.
In the second half, Dawson was the team that went cold from outside, but they only turned the ball over twice in the final twenty minutes and made some timely baskets and free throws to hold off the late charge. On the night, the Bucs forced the Pioneers into 19 turnovers and converted those into 21 points while outscoring them in the paint 54-36. As they’ve done all year, the Dawson bench outscored their opponents by a big margin, 49-17 in this game.
Dawson Coach Joe Peterson was excited to come away with the road win, “We had an abysmal night shooting the ball from long range, going 4-15 in the first half and 1-14 in the second half, but our guys stayed confident, took good care of the ball and got some things going to the basket. Miles also struggled to score. If we would have done a better job keeping them off the free throw line and if we could have made a few jumpers, it wouldn’t have been as close at the end. It takes a lot of character to go on the road and win at Wahpeton, Williston and Miles. I’m really proud of how these guys have persevered and stuck together no matter the circumstances. Their character and chemistry is what has helped them be successful, but we still have a lot of areas we need to get better in!”
Collins led the charge for Dawson with 20 points and 6 rebounds and fellow forward Santistevan contributed 18 points and 8 rebounds. Despite a poor shooting night, Camron Dunfee also added 15 points and Man Man Baker finished with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists before fouling out. Gedeon Buzangu only made 4 of 13 field goals for Miles, but connected on 7 of 8 from the free throw line to score 15 points and he had a monster game on the boards with 21 rebounds.
Dawson will play one more road game at United Tribes on Thursday before finally returning home on Super Bowl Sunday.
