Dawson Bounces Back Convincingly
After losing their first conference game of the season on Sunday, the Dawson Buccaneers bounced back convincingly by blowing out the Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks 111-75. Dawson finished the regular season with a 27-3 record overall and 13-1 record in conference. It was the eighth time they scored over 110 points this season and the eighteenth time eclipsing the century mark for the nation's second highest scoring team.
"Losing last night did not settle well with any of us," shared Bucs Coach Joe Peterson. "It was nice to come out with some fire and intensity tonight. We played much harder, got back to our roots of being a great rebounding team, and we got the ball moving on the offensive end. It was fun to see everyone contributing and getting excited for each other."
The Bucs came out focused and determined to put yesterday's setback behind them, opening the game on a 19-0. The Lumberjacks didn't score their first points of the game until the 13 minute mark when they made two free throws. After that onslaught, Dakota College played Dawson pretty even for most of the half until the Bucs closed strong to post their biggest lead right before the halftime buzzer, 63-39. Ten different Buccaneers got into the scoring column and twelve different players got into the rebounding column. Dawson shot 55% from the field and 93% from the free throw line, outrebounded DCB 23-15 and forced 15 turnovers that led to 24 points.
The second half wasn't much different. Dawson didn't have any huge runs, but gradually stretched the lead all the way to 38 points with five minutes remaining. Dawson held the Lumberjacks to 38% shooting in the second half as they outscored Dakota College 48-36. All thirteen players contributed along the way for the visitors as they dominated every category. Dawson shot 50% from the field for the game, compared to DCB's 42%. DCC also made 23-27 from the free throw line. They had an 18 rebound advantage on the boards and scored 33 points off of 22 turnovers. Their bench outscored the Lumberjacks 37-18.
Six Buccaneers reached double figures in a balanced effort, led by 18 points, 6 rebounds and 4 stetals from Seth Amunrud. Jordan Jasper had 17 points and Ade Onaleye pumped in 14. Brandon Hymes, Aries Lewis and Justin Asi all scored 13 points. Asi also had 11 rebounds. Jalen Blanchard finished with a game high 24 points for Dakota College at Bottineau.
Dawson won the Mon-Dak Conference regular season championship with a 13-1 record. They will host a Region XIII Tournament Semifinal game at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, March 5th against the winner of the North Dakota State College of Science vs. Miles Community College game.