(DCC Athletics release)
GLENDIVE – 6’0 sophomore guard Brent Finn started out on fire and never really cooled down all night long to lead Dawson to an easy victory over Dakota College. The first one came with the score 8-5 four minutes into it on an assist from Travon Hamilton. After a Simon Falokun basket, Finn hit another 3-pointer to put the Bucs up 16-8 on a pass from Michele Capasso. Two possessions later he nailed another one from Capasso again. Less than a minute later, he put the Bucs up 22-10 with another one before taking a rest. He hit two more before the end of the half. His shooting got the Bucs rolling and they managed to build a 24 point half-time lead. It was a dominating performance in the first half as the home team limited Dakota College to 32% shooting while outrebounding them 30-19 and they took good care of the ball, only turning it over 3 times in the opening 20 minutes. Finn finished the half with 20 points. Nobody was in double digits for the Lumberjacks.
The visitors from Bottineau played better in the second half though they never managed to get closer than 20 points the rest of the way. All twelve Buccaneers contributed to the victory. Eleven different players scored and ten collected at least one rebound. Finn led the way with 28 points. Falokun also contributed 16 points and 12 rebounds while Tyrel Harper added 13 points and 14 rebounds. Dawson outscored Dakota College 36-12 from the 3 point line, 22-12 on second chance points and 22-18 off the bench. It was another dominating performance on the boards as they outrebounded the visitors 53-36, including 21 offensive rebounds.
DCC Head Coach Joe Peterson said, “I loved the way we defended, rebounded and handled the ball in the first half. That was our emphasis before the game… play great defense, dominate the boards and take care of the ball. When we do that, we are awfully good. And Finn’s shooting really got us going. The guys were looking for him tonight and he was feeling pretty confident.”
The win gives Dawson a solid lock on 2nd place in the league with one game remaining. They move to 22-7 on the year and 8-3 in the conference. North Dakota State College of Science clinched the regular season title with their win at Williston on Thursday. So NDSCS will host the Region XIII tournament in Wahpeton, ND on March 3-4.
Dawson will close out the regular season with a home game vs. Bismarck State College next Thursday, February 22nd. It will be Sophomore Night. Dawson beat Bismarck 110-106 back on January 29th.
It was a very pinkish nigh for the Lady Buccaneers of Dawson Community College. Lady Bucs basketball defeated Dakota College at Bottineau 80-67 winning their 3rd game in a row. It was the 4th annual Play 4Kay Breast Cancer Awareness Game DCC has hosted, and it was a festive night with donations going to a great cause and the Lady Bucs winning the ball game.
The Lady Bucs started off solid outscoring the Lady Jacks 26-19 in the first quarter. Emily Harwood would come out on fire scoring 8 points to end the quarter. However, Dakota had a mini-run of their own and tied the 2nd quarter at 16 points apiece and went into halftime down 35-42 to Dawson. Dakota would continue their run into the 3rd quarter and outscore Dawson 21-17. There were four Lady Jacks in double figure points at the conclusion of the quarter and there were no signs of stopping them. So Head Coach Romeo Lagmay, Jr. decided to full court press Dakota and it worked to his team’s advantage, “Though Dakota may be in a tough spot near last place in conference, they definitely played with some toughness to make it a game tonight. We had to use some of our athleticism in the back court to keep them away as they made runs to cut the deficit within 1 to 3 points and get down within range to take a lead towards the end of the game. We just had enough juice to shut them down.” DCC won the 4th quarter 21-11 having most of their steals towards the end of the game. DCC would have a total of 16 steals and caused 23 turnovers for Dakota. The Lady Jacks would have better shooting percentages from the field and 3-point range than DCC, but it was Dawson’s full court pressure and forced turnovers that would win the game for the Lady Bucs.
Emily Harwood scored a game high 21 points along with 6 rebounds, 3 assist and 3 steals. Alexius Foster had a good all-around game as well scoring 19 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and collecting 5 steals. MacKinzie Verke had 10 points, 4 rebounds and a game high 7 assists. Ejanae Coopwood had a game high 6 steals along with 6 points and 5 rebounds. Chasity Pope led the team with 6 rebounds and had 6 points.
The Lady Bucs will finish off the regular season on Sophomore Night when they host Bismarck State College on Thursday, February 22nd at 5:30 pm.
