Hard Fought Win vs. NDSCS
The DCC Buccaneers moved to 5-0 on the season with a hard fought 79-67 win over the visiting North Dakota State College of Science Wildcats. NDSCS came in with a 3-1 record and are always one of the top teams in the league, but cold shooting did them in on Sunday afternoon at the Toepke Center.
The Bucs jumped out to a 16-4 lead early on. Kose Egbule and Kell Schwers scored the first two buckets of the game and then Charles Lampten made a free throw, a basket inside, a 3-pointer and then another basket inside. Jajuan Tot and Kennedy Brown added baskets to give them the 12 point advantage. The Wildcats scored the next twelve points to tie the game at 16. It was a pretty tight game for the rest of the half until Michael Jok connected from long range to put Dawson up by 9 with a minute left. The Bucs held a 37-30 advantage at the break. NDSCS only shot 34% from the field while Dawson shot 54%.
The beginning of the second half was a lot like the first half with Dawson jumping on the visitors early. Dawson went on a 9-3 run to lead 46-33 with a balanced attack. Once again the visitors came storming back. This time it was a 20-4 run sparked by four 3-pointers in a 6 minute stretch. It was a back and forth affair after that and the game was tied at 60 with 4:37 left. The Bucs went on a 9-0 run in the next 1:22. Jalen Tot broke the tie with a 3-pointer and then Lampten scored on an assist from Egbule and Jok followed that up with another bucket. Lampten then returned the favor with an assist to Egbule to give Dawson a 69-60 lead with 3:15 left. After two free throws by NDSCS, Jalen Tot and Schwers scored on tough drives and Jok connected on four straight free throws to give a 15 point cushion and seal the win with a minute remaining.
Dawson shot 55.6% from the field for the game while holding the visitors to 31.9% shooting. Part of the reason for that was a 48-28 advantage on points in the paint. They also outrebounded the Wildcats 46-37 for the game.
Jok led the way for the Bucs with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Lampten had another double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. He also added 2 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Egbule had a solid game as well with 13 points and 5 rebounds.
NDSCS was led by RaShaun Parker's 13 points. JaQuan Sander Smith added 10 points to go along with 3 assists.
Coach Joe Peterson praised the effort, “Our guys really fought hard against a talented, tough, well-coached team. We kept delivering blows and they kept coming right back at us, but we finally broke through in the final four minutes with that 9-0 run to close it out. We need to get better offensively in executing and in handling the ball, but our defense kept us in it tonight. It’s a long season playing 21 conference games, so we need to dig in and focus on getting better every day because I’m sure NDSCS will keep getting better as the season moves on.”
Dawson will host Rocky Mountain College JV on Thursday night at 7:30 pm.
