The Williston State College Tetons remained undefeated in Mon-Dak Conference play with a 79-69 win against Dawson Community College. A cold shooting night doomed the Bucs who only made 37% of their shots on the night from the field, 61% from the free throw line and an atrocious 9% (2-22) from the 3-point line. James Jones Jr started the scoring with a couple of free throws early on for the Tetons and Man Baker scored for the Bucs to tie the game at two. Anthony Davis Jr. nailed a 3-pointer to put Williston up by three and Baker countered with another drive and bucket. Jaron Masis maneuvered inside to score and give the Bucs the lead at 6-5, but Jones scored from long range to regain the lead. The game stayed a one possession game over the next five minutes, but the visitors finally made a 13-6 run to take control of the game. The Bucs closed the gap to five on another inside basket by Masis with a minute left in the half, but Williston’s Devale Johnson got a tip-in as the halftime buzzer sounded to give them a 33-26 lead. Neither team shot particularly well in the first half, but Williston made a few more shots from the free throw line and the 3-point line.
CJ Nelson scored the opening bucket in the second half on an assist from Baker, though Davis came back with another 3-pointer to push the lead back to eight points. Dawson cut it to five again a few minutes later on a 3-pointer by Cam’ron Dunfee, but again Williston had an answer with a 3-pointer of their own from Johnson. The Tetons largest lead of the game was a 66-50 advantage. Even though the Bucs cut the deficit to six points three different times, they couldn’t ever get over the hump. They chipped away in the final minute to cut it to single digits, but the Tetons iced it from the free throw line.
Dawson Coach Joe Peterson lamented, “I thought we played a pretty good game overall despite shooting so poorly. We outrebounded them, forced more turnovers and executed well offensively. We got good shots that were right there, but just wouldn’t fall tonight. When you shoot that poorly you have to play perfect in every other facet of the game and unfortunately we didn’t. If we could have just made a couple of those three’s or a few more free throws it would have been a one or two possession game at the end.”
The Bucs were led in scoring by Marcus Stephens who finished with 13 points. Dunfee chipped in with 12 points while Baker had 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. Devin Collins had a team high 12 rebounds. Amar Miller paced Williston with 18 points. Jones and Sita Conteh finished with 15 and Johnson had 14 points to go along with 14 boards.
The win moves Williston to 12-8 on the season and 5-0 in conference and drops Dawson to 12-9 and 3-2 in conference.