The Dawson Community College Buccaneers avenged their only conference home loss by returning the favor to the Williston State College Tetons. It didn’t look like that would be the case for most of the night. WSC had a sizeable lead almost all game including double digit margins in both halves and were up by 14 with a little over eight minutes remaining, but Dawson outscored them by 18 in the final eight minutes to win 82-78. Before the game, Williston was alone in first place with a 9-1 conference record and had beaten Dawson in the pre-season tournament by 20 and again last month in Glendive by 10.
In the first half, Anthony Davis Jr led Williston with 14 points on a perfect 5-5 from the field, including 3-3 from long range. Leading scorer James Jones chipped in with 10 points. No one from Dawson was in double figures in the opening half and the Tetons shot 47% from the field while holding Dawson to 35% shooting. The Bucs had their biggest lead four minutes into the game when they were up by six points but that didn’t last long. Williston went up by 10 with eight minutes left and stayed in control.
In the second half, Davis cooled off for WSC, but Amar Miller connected on three-pointers on three straight possessions to put them up by double digits. Marcus Stephens and CJ Nelson were the catalysts for Dawson in the second half scoring 18 and 12 points respectively. The Bucs forced 10 turnovers in the final twenty minutes to help them get back in the game. With only a couple minutes remaining Nelson stole the ball and scored and then on the next possession, Man Man Baker stole it and kicked ahead to Reece Green for a lay-up to cut the lead to three points. The visitors followed that up with a crucial three-pointer from CJ Nelson. Then off a missed free throw from WSC, Dawson pushed it ahead to Stephens who was alone in the corner for the clutch shot to tie the game with a little bit over a minute left. Dawson stopped them once again on the defensive end and Stephens gave them the lead for good with a strong drive and finish in the lane. The Bucs held the home team without a field goal in the final four minutes of the game and preserved the win with free throws from Stephens who finished with 27 points. Nelson had 18 points and Baker finished with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
DCC outrebounded the home team 42-34 and shot 56% from the field in the second half and 55% from the 3-point line. They had nine guys in the scoring column and ten in the rebounding column. Dawson’s bench scored 45 of their 82 points.
Williston had four guys in double figures led by Jones with 22, Davis with 16, Miller with 14 and O’Shane Taylor Douglas who had 12 points
Coach Joe Peterson praised the effort, “Williston is so athletic and so talented that they can wow you at times, but I love how our guys kept fighting for forty minutes. Eventually our depth helped to wear them down and started forcing turnovers late. Marcus hit some big shots and CJ was tough down the stretch, but I love how this group sticks together through thick and thin. They have each other’s backs and truly care about each other. Even when we are down, they don’t turn on each other. Our character is one of our greatest assets as a team.”
The win improves Dawson to 17-10 on the season and 8-3 in conference. They are just one game behind Williston and NDSCS who are deadlocked in a tie for first place at 9-2. The Bucs will return home to face off with Dakota College Bottineau on Monday night at 7:30 pm.