The Dawson Community College Buccaneers closed out the regular season with an emphatic win over the visiting Bismarck State College Mystics on Sunday afternoon 103-69. The win gives Dawson a 19-11 record in the regular season and, more importantly, a 10-4 record in conference play. They finish the league in third place, one game behind NDSCS and two games behind league champions, Williston State College.
In their previous game the Bucs dug themselves a deep hole they couldn’t climb out of, but on Sophomore Day they built an early lead and coasted to the victory. Their lone sophomore player, Reece Green, got things going off the bat with a strong inside bucket and then followed it up with a free throw. Dawson forced Bismarck into turnovers on their first three possessions. Man Man Baker had a couple of key driving lay-ups and found his teammates on a couple of other drives. Coach Joe Peterson kept fresh bodies coming into the game and they kept up the intensity throughout the half. Marcus Stephens connected on all three of his attempts from long range to score nine points in the half and Devin Collins collected seven rebounds. Their offense was clicking as they shot 55% from the field, 44% from 3-point range and 88% from the free throw line, but it was their trademark defense that helped them build a big lead. They held Bismarck to 35% shooting from the field, 27% from the 3-point line and forced 11 turnovers while outrebounding them 21-17 in the opening half. The conference’s #1 scoring team was held to only 33 points in the half.
Dawson didn’t let up in the second half, as they built their lead all the way up to 36 points at one point. All thirteen Buccaneers scored on the night and five were in double figures led by Stephens’ 21 points on an efficient 6-9 from the field and 6-6 from the free throw line. He also contributed 3 assists and 3 steals. Others in double figures were Beau Santistevan with 12 points, Devin Collins with 11 points and 12 rebounds, CJ Nelson with 11 points and Cam’ron Dunfee with 10 points. Baker ended with 8 points and 5 assists. Sophomore Reece Green contributed 6 points and 6 rebounds in his final home game. The Mystics were led by KyJuan Johnson’s game high 22 points. The Bucs hot shooting cooled off a bit in the second half, but their defense was just as strong as they held Bismarck 22 points below their season average.
Coach Peterson was proud of his team, “We got back to playing tough defense tonight. That was missing Thursday night, but they responded to our challenge after that game. When we crank up the energy and intensity on defense, it feeds our offense. It was truly a team effort tonight and we need to play like this in the tournament if we want to advance.”
The Region XIII Division 1 Tournament will be hosted by #1 seed Williston State College on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Dawson will open up with these same Mystics Thursday night at 5:30 pm CST. The winner of that game will play the #2 seed NDSCS Wildcats on Friday night at 5:30 pm CST. The championship game will be on Saturday afternoon.