Buccaneers Defeat Central Arizona College
In the first game of the Pima Aztec Classic, the Dawson Community College Buccaneers beat Central Arizona College 85-68. The win moves the Bucs to 13-1 on the season and CAC dropped to 10-3. DCC forced 30 turnovers and had 17 offensive rebounds to get the double digit victory.
The first half saw 3 ties and 7 lead changes as the teams battled back and forth. CAC turned it over 14 times in the first twenty minutes, but was able to shoot 52% from the field and 43% from the 3-point line to keep it within reach, trailing 32-36 at intermission. Dawson struggled to finish in the paint and only shot 34% from the field.
In the second half, Dawson’s shooting picked up, primarily by getting a lot of fast break baskets off turnovers. Even though the Bucs only shot 3-14 from the 3-point line in the second half, they still managed to shoot 54% from the field thanks to the lay-ups and dunks they got in transition. Dawson forced 16 more turnovers in the second half. Central Arizona shot 60% from the field in the second half and 56% for the game, but they couldn’t keep it close with Dawson getting 84 shots from the field to their 50 because of turnovers and offensive rebounds! DCC built a twenty point lead and eventually won by 17.
“It’s pretty remarkable to get 34 more shots than your opponent in a game. I thought our defensive pressure was really good tonight and I loved how we went to the offensive glass. If we would have finished better in the first half, we could have blown it open early. Our guys fought through a lot of challenges with travel and injuries coming off the break, so it was good to see them come out victorious.”
Jalen Tot led the way with 20 points (4-6 from 3-point range), 7 rebounds and 3 steals. Kennedy Brown contributed 16 points and 8 rebounds. Michael Jok stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 steals. John White Jr led Central Arizona with 20 points on 6-8 shooting from long range.
Dawson will play host Pima CC on Tuesday at 6:00 pm. Pima is currently ranked #9 in the country for NJCAA D2.
