Dawson Wins Overtime Thriller in Powell
Seth Amunrud made a free throw with 35 seconds left in overtime and then scored the go-ahead basket on a driving layup with 10 seconds remaining for the Dawson Buccaneers. Preston Condie's 3-pointer fell short for the Northwest College Trappers as the final buzzer sounded to give Dawson an 83-81 road win. The win puts Dawson at 7-1 on the season with five home games coming up during the first two weeks of December.
Saturday's game was back and forth in the first half with six lead changes until Northwest took control towards the end of the half. Their largest lead was ten points with just over three minutes remaining in the opening twenty minutes. Justin Asi's 3-pointer from the corner with twenty-five seconds left pulled the Buccaneers within seven points at 37-30. Dawson was fortunate to be that close after allowing the Trappers to shoot 58% from the field while they only shot 36%. Tesloch Thong scored 10 points for the home team while Justin Asi scored 10 points for the visitors in the first half.
Northwest maintained the lead for quite a bit of the second half. They went on an 11-0 run to claim their largest advantage at 60-47 halfway through. The Trappers still had a double digit lead, 68-56, with five minutes remaining. Dawson didn't give up though, and the momentum began to shift with Dawson forcing turnovers and creating second chances on the offensive end. With Brandon Hymes, Justin Asi and Seth Amunrud leading the charge, the Buccaneers started their comeback. Hymes got it going with two free throws and then he found Amunrud in transition for a pull-up 3-pointer. Asi stole the ensuing in-bounds and got fouled. He connected on 1 of 2 from the line. Another turnover led to another Asi bucket inside. Ade Onaleye stole a cross court pass and Kur Maler scored on a corner 3-pointer to pull Dawson within a point. The 11-0 run only took two minutes. Asi scored another basket inside to tie it up with two minutes remaining, but was called for a technical foul for taunting after the play. Northwest made both free throws to go back up by two points. With a minute remaining Asi made two more free throws to tie the game again, this time at 71-71. Neither team scored in the final minute and the game went to overtime. In those frantic last five minutes of regulation, Dawson forced 8 turnovers and grabbed 6 offensive rebounds to come from twelve points behind.
In overtime, Hymes started the scoring for Dawson with a nice driving lay-up. Jordan Jasper picked off a pass and flew down the court for a dunk, giving the Bucs a quick four point lead. After two free throws by Northwest, Jasper found Hymes underneath for another bucket. Most of the Trappers scoring in overtime came from the free throw line. With Dawson down one point with a little over a minute left in the extra frame, Amunrud drove and scored to take back the lead. The teams traded free throws and then Northwest scored inside to regain a one point advantage. That set the stage for Amunrud's late game heroics to capture the hard fought come from behind win on the road for the Buccaneers. He scored 14 points in the second half. There were 6 ties and 4 lead changes in the final ten minutes of the game.
Northwest lost despite shooting 60% from the field and getting to the free throw line 31 times. Dawson took 19 more shots than the home team by forcing 24 turnovers and collecting 8 more offensive rebounds.
"That was an ugly game," exclaimed Bucs Coach Joe Peterson. "There's a lot I would like to say, but I'll focus on the positive aspect which is that we stuck together as a team, kept a great attitude and kept believing. It was far from pretty, but good teams find ways to win tough games on the road. I'm really proud of my guys tonight."
Asi finished with a game high 22 points and 4 steals before fouling out in overtime. Amunrud had 18 points and 4 rebounds. Troy Hugs added 11 points and Brandon Hymes had 10 points and 5 steals before also fouling out. Drew Larson had 18 points to lead five Trappers in double figures.
Dawson will be off for the Thanksgiving break and will return to action on Monday, December 3rd at 7:00 pm.