(DCC release)
DEVILS LAKE, N.D. - The Dawson Community College basketball teams earned an impressive road sweep over Lake Region State Sunday. It was the Buccaneer men's 11th straight win, while the women outlasted the Royals in overtime.
The Bucs men ran away with a 97-53 victory. Dawson's last loss was on December 30th by three points to Phoenix College. Sunday's win improves Dawson's conference record to 10-0 and overall record to 21-6. DCC only needs to win two of their final four games to clinch the regular season title and earn the right to host the Region XIII Tournament February 27-29.
The Bucs used a 17-2 run in the first half to take control of the game and were up 52-15 before allowing Lake Region to score the final five points of the first half. Dawson used stifling defense to hold the home team to 23% shooting in the first twenty minutes and force 13 turnovers. The Bucs connected on 54% of their shots and 53% from the 3-point line in the opening half. After scoring 32 points in Thursday's win over NDSCS, Camron Dunfee continued his hot shooting in the first half, going 5-8 from the field and 3-5 from the 3-point line to put up 14 points. Dawson's bench outscored the Royals 36-6.
All thirteen Bucs got into the scoring and rebounding columns on the stat sheet. They had four players in double figures led by Devin Collins who finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Camron Dunfee had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Beau Santistevan also contributed 14 points and Jayce Griffith finished with 11 points. Roulervee Vann had a game high 11 assists in 18 minutes.
"Over the past few weeks it has seemed like everyone has shot a good percentage against us, so it was good to see us really lock down and make it difficult for them to score," said head coach Joe Peterson. "On the other end, our shots were falling and when we shoot well, we are really hard to beat. Despite the score being lopsided, I loved the fact that we kept playing hard and stayed really unselfish."
In the women's game, the Lady Bucs (13-14, 5-5) forced overtime and eventually defeated the Royals (16-11, 6-4) 92-81.
Dawson came out strong winning the first quarter 22-16, but Lake Region had a run of their own and won the second quarter 20-13. After 8 lead changes and 7 ties, the Lady Buccaneers were able to capitalize in the overtime period by outscoring the Lady Royals 19-8. For the game, Lake Region outscored Dawson off the bench 44-16, along with 29 points off turnovers to DCC's 18; however, Dawson had 12 steals, 27 assists and outrebounded Lake Region 53-44.
"We are just very proud of the way our team battles in every game," said DCC head coch Romeo Lagmay, Jr. "All we can ask for is for them to fight with 100% effort, and we will be content with any outcome. They battled their way to victory for 45 minutes. We were really glad to see for the first time in my coaching career 4 players record double doubles in the same game. It was a great win for Buc Nation."
Freshman center Ashya Klopfenstein had a season high 34 points, along with 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks and 6 steals. Ashley Orozco had 18 points, 5 rebounds and a season high 11 assists. Tamiya Francis contributed a double double with 11 points, 10 rebounds, along with 3 steals and 4 assists. Ervianne Cly also had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Bucs will return to home action on Thursday, February 13 to face Williston State College. The women play at 5:30 p.m. with the men set for 7:30. The night will feature the 6th annual Play 4Kay Pink Zone games for the breast cancer awareness national fundraising campaign that takes place all around the country. Raffle tickets will be sold with an opportunity to win plenty of prizes. There will also be a Pie-Face activity allowing all fans a chance to buy pie plates to smash at the coaching staff at half-time of the men's basketball game.
