Dawson Drops Close One to 5th Ranked Team in the Country
Otero Junior College stayed unbeaten by out-shooting Dawson at the 3-point line to claim a 66-62 win. They outscored the home team 33-18 from long range for the game. Freshman Romon Douglass-Watkins scored the first bucket of the game and that was a sign of things to come. He scored five more in the first three minutes of the game to give the Rattlers from Otero a 9-4 lead early on. Dawson’s defense tightened up after that as they came back to tie it at 12-12 on a field goal from Camron Dunfeee. It stayed pretty close for the rest of the half with Otero clinging to a small lead for most of the way. Their largest lead was at 24-17, but Beau Santistevan connected on a 3-pointer on the next possession to bring it back to a four point deficit. In the closing seconds of the half, Charles Lampten blocked a shot and Dawson raced down the court to get a good look from 3 by CJ Nelson, but it bounced off the rim. Fortunately, Santistevan corralled it and laid it in to bring the Bucs within 3 points at 33-30. Douglass-Watkins was solid with 12 points in the half and Otero outrebounded Dawson 22-16. Neither team shot it particularly well and both teams had double digit turnovers in the first twenty minutes.
To start the second half, the Bucs got the ball inside to Jaron Masis for an easy bucket to cut the deficit to one again, but Douglass Watkins had the answer with a 3 pointer and a drive, followed by two free throws. The margin stayed between 3-6 points for most of the second half. The Bucs tied it up at 42-42 with 13:38 remaining on a basket by Camron Dunfee but they never took the lead. Otero proceeded to go on a 13-2 run fueled by four 3-pointers. Dawson didn’t fold though and punched back with a 13-3 run of their own. All of the points in the run were scored by Santistevan and Roulervee Vann, including two straight three-pointers by Vann that brought the Bucs within one point at 58-57. Just as he had done all night long, Douglass-Watkins had the answer for Otero with two straight buckets to push the lead back to five. Dawson had their chances in the final minutes, but just couldn’t get the shots to fall. They ended the game shooting only 6-23 from long range. It was a very even game statistically across the board, except for from the 3-point line.
Douglass-Watkins led all scorers with 25 points on 10-13 shooting including 4-6 from 3. Santistevan led Dawson with 14 points and 5 rebounds. Vann finished with 12 points and 5 assists. Man Man Baker had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
Coach Joe Peterson shared his thoughts, “We battled hard and competed. Our defense and rebounding gave us a chance to beat one of the best teams in the country, but we just couldn’t get shots to fall. I thought we got good looks from good shooters, but it wasn’t meant to be. We did a great job defensively on everyone except Douglass-Watkins. Whenever they needed a bucket, he came through for them and we didn’t stop him. We know we can play with anyone in the country, but we need to keep getting better so that we can win these types of games.”
The win moved Otero to 13-0 on the season and dropped Dawson to 8-3. All three of Dawson’s losses are by single digits. The Bucs hit the road this weekend to play at Sheridan College on Friday and Northwest College on Saturday.
