January 17, 2022
Dawson Returns Home and Beats Miles
(pictured: Reggie Martin avoids the defense)
The Dawson Buccaneers haven’t had a home game since December 10th, and they were eager to play in front of the home crowd. Their game vs. Miles was supposed to be played on January 6, but got postponed because of COVID issues. On Sunday afternoon, Dawson blasted out of the gates with a 22-3 run in the opening seven minutes and never looked back. They were ahead 43-25 at the half and cruised to a 100-60 victory over their in-state rivals.
“I loved our effort tonight”, commented head coach Joe Peterson. “We were sprinting hard, diving on the floor, taking charges and crashing the glass. We need that kind of effort every time we step on the floor. We got out of sync offensively a little in that first half, but our intensity stayed consistent.”
The fast start was ignited by Jalen Tot’s lay-up, a Riley Spoonhunter 3-pointer and then a jumper and another lay-up by Tot. DeAngelo Horn then connected on four straight free throws. The second unit came in and kept it going with a balanced effort, but it was the defense that suffocated the visitors. Dawson forced 6 turnovers in the opening seven minutes and the only points came from a three-pointer by Ray Daniels. After the hot start, Dawson went a little cold and only scored three points in the next five minutes. The closest the Pioneers could ever get though was a 13 point deficit. Dawson closed the half with a couple of free throws from Jalen Tot and Kennedy Brown to stretch the lead back up to 18 points. Eighteen first half turnovers was Miles undoing.
In the first minute of the second half, Jajuan Tot made a driving lay-up to put Dawson up by 20 and the lead stayed over 20 points the rest of the way. All twelve Dawson players scored and the Bucs bench outscored Miles 52-10. DCC forced 28 turnovers and held the visitors to 39% shooting from the field.
Dawson had 5 guys in double figures, and was led by Kennedy Brown who finished with 15 points, on 6 of 10 shooting, as well as grabbing 5 rebounds and blocking 6 shots. Jalen Tot and Reggie both scored 13 points, dished out 3 assists, and recorded 2 steals. DeAngelo Horn scored 12 points and Riley Spoonhunter scored 11 (3-5 3PT) to round out the Bucs in double figures.
The Pioneers were led by Ray Daniels who scored 18 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Blessing Adesipe also scored in double figures, finishing with 12 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
The Bucs are now 16-3 on the season and 8-2 in the conference. It was their 31st straight conference home win, a record dating back to January 24, 2019; almost 3 full calendar years. Dawson will turn around and play again tomorrow with a road trip at Williston State College before they return home on Thursday night.
