Dawson Bucs Take Down #4 Salt Lake

The Dawson Buccaneers upset the #4 ranked team in the country, the Salt Lake Community College Bruins, 103-98, in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday afternoon. The Bruins came into the game with a 10 game winning streak. It was Dawson's 8th straight win and improves their season record to 13-1. The game was the first one in the Aztec Holiday classic at Pima Community College. Each team will play two more games over the next two days. 

"You never know what you are going to get in your first game back after Christmas break, but our guys were obviously ready to play this one," commented Dawson Coach Joe Peterson. "It didn't seem like we missed a beat offensively. Defensively, we seemed a little tentative at times and a step slow. Hopefully we can correct that and come back stronger and tougher tomorrow. There's still a lot of room for improvement." 

The Bruins took an early 4-0 lead in the first minute of the game, but Dawson came back on a three-point play by Jordan Jasper and a basket by Justin Asi. The first half went back and forth with five ties and seven lead changes. In the final five minutes of the half, Dawson built up a seven point lead behind the scoring of Seth Amunrud who did most of his damage from the free throw line, going 9-10 in the opening twenty minutes. Ethan Copeland carried the load for Salt Lake with four three's in the half. Dawson only made 1-6 from beyond the arc, but made 60% from inside the arc (14-23) and 79% from the free throw line (15-19). DCC led SLCC 46-41 at the break. 

The Buccaneers jumped out of the gates quickly in the second, building a double digit lead in the opening minutes. The Bruins fired back, eventually taking the lead with nine minutes remaining. There were six more lead changes and a couple more ties until Seth Amunrud made 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions to regain a seven point advantage for Dawson and put them in control for the home stretch. DCC held a 13 point lead with 4:54 remaining. Salt Lake closed the gap to three in the final minute, but the Bucs didn't miss a free throw and held on for the five point win. They shot 71% from the field in the second half and 62% from the 3-point line (5-8). They also shot 85% from the free throw line in the half, making 12-14. Both teams scored 57 points in a high scoring second half. Dawson shot a sizzling 61% from the field. 43% from 3 and 82% from the free throw line for the game.  

Amunrud finished with a game high 28 points by shooting 6-9 from the field, 4-4 from the 3-point line and 12-13 from the free throw line. He also had 5 assists and 3 steals. Jordan Jasper contributed 19 points. Justin Asi had 13 and Ade Onaleye had 11. For the Bruins, Mason Bendinger scored 27 points and Xavier Edmonds finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds. 

Dawson will play the host school, Pima Community College, Sunday at 2:00 pm. Pima is undefeated at 13-0 on the season and ranked #6 in the country for NJCAA D2 schools.