Dawson Comes from Behind in Home Opener
The unbeaten Bucs found themselves down by double digits with 16:45 left in the second half in their home opener on Thursday night against the Northwest College Trappers, but they outscored the visitors 47-30 the rest of the way to secure the victory, 82-75. The win moves Dawson to 4-0 on the season.
"Northwest is a tough team to play," explained Dawson Coach Joe Peterson. "They always play so hard and do a great job of switching their defenses and play a great zone that is hard to go up against. Fortunately, we had our best rebounding game of the season and our defensive intensity really elevated after we got down by ten points. If we can rebound and defend like we did for the last 16 minutes of the game, then we will always give ourselves a chance in every game."
Matt Kinzeler scored the first points of the game on a three-pointer from the corner for Dawson, but the Bucs offense struggled in the early going. Even though Dawson was averaging 109 points per game in their first three games of the season, they only scored seven points in the first 7½ minutes of the game before Kuich Gatwech connected on a three-pointer from the corner. Kai Guess scored a lay-up on their next possession to tie the game at twelve points each. Two minutes later Aries Lewis tied it again on a dunk, and then Mikey Ngoyi gave Dawson the lead on another dunk. There were three ties and three lead changes in the first half before Northwest took control with a 17-6 run that gave them a 32-23 lead with three minutes to go before halftime. The Bucs answered back with a mini 9-4 run to close out the half. On an assist from Aries Lewis, Ngoyi scored a three-pointer and got fouled. He made the free throw to make it a four point play. Lewis then made a three-pointer and Ade Onaleye finished the run with a driving lay-up at the buzzer to pull Dawson within four points going into the break, 36-32. The half was pretty evenly played, except that Northwest had the advantage in turnovers. The Trappers only turned it over two times themselves and forced Dawson into eight turnovers. Nobody for either team reached double figures in the first twenty minutes.
In the second half, after Onaleye scored a lay-up to bring the Bucs within two points, the Trappers went on a 9-1 run to stretch their lead to ten points. That's when Dawson really dug in and climbed back into the game. Brandon Hymes made two straight layups and Gatwech connected from long range. After Zakai Owens made a free throw, Hymes got a traditional three-point play, another lay-up and another free throw. Over the next three minutes, Dawson forced five turnovers in the next eight possessions which led to some great transition opportunities. Kai Guess made a three-pointer with a little over ten minutes left and Zakai Owens followed it up with another jumpshot at the shot clock buzzer to put the Bucs up 66-58. It took only six minutes for the home team to turn a ten point deficit into an eight point advantage on a 31-13 run. They kept the lead between 6-9 points the rest of the way to seal the victory in their home opener. Dawson outscored Northwest 50-39 in the second half. Brandon Hymes scored all fifteen of his points in the second half. Kai Guess scored eleven of his fifteen points in the second half.
Dawson shot 51.6% from the field for the game, but only 27.3% from the three-point line and an abysmal 45.5% from the free throw line (10-22). They held the visitors to 41.8% shooting from the field. The Bucs outscored the Trappers in the paint 50-20 and their bench outscored them 53-29. Dawson dominated the boards 46-33 on the night.
Hymes and Guess led four double digit scorers with 15 points each. Aries Lewis had 11 points, a game high 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. Kuich Gatwech contributed 10 points. Sophomore forward Eli Patterson led the Trappers with 15 points.
Dawson will play again at home on Friday night when they host Eastern Wyoming College at 7:30 pm.
