Mar 2, 2024
For the 8th time in 10 years, the Dawson Buccaneers will be playing in the Region XIII Tournament Championship Game. A familiar foe will be waiting for them there. They will be facing the North Dakota State College of Science Wildcats for the sixth time during that span. The top seeded Wildcats easily handled the #5 seed Bismarck State College 83-57 in the first semifinal on Saturday in Wahpeton, North Dakota. Dawson, the #2 seed, also won going away 91-69 vs. #3 Miles Community College in the second semifinal on Saturday. The win improves Dawson's record on the year to 25-6, but more importantly, puts them back in the title game with another shot at NDSCS, and an opportunity to win the region.
"I'm really proud of this group for how they've grown throughout this year," shared Dawson Coach Joe Peterson. "But the job is not done yet. We aren't satisfied with what we've achieved and want to keep this year going as long as we can."
In their semifinal game, Dawson was down briefly early on 6-2, but used a 14-2 run to take control of the game. It was their bench that sparked them with Sam Massaquoi, Kur Maler and Demetric Kindle giving them some scoring punch, leading to 23 points off the bench in the first half. Dawson forced 12 turnovers in the opening half and scored 16 points off those turnovers. They also used 11 offensive rebounds to score 10 second chance points as they built a 38-21 lead with five minutes left in the half.
Miles finished strong though with a 10-2 run that put the score at 41-31 going into the break. Kris English was the Pioneers spark off the bench with 13 points and 4 rebounds in the half.
Dawson started the second half a little slow again, but gradually pulled away as their opponent wore down and the Bucs continued to force turnovers and control the glass. The lead ballooned to 27 points at 86-59. All thirteen players contributed and ten players scored for a Dawson team who received 52 points off their bench. The Bucs finished with 19 offensive rebounds and 21 second chance points while forcing 25 turnovers and scoring 34 points off those turnovers.
"We did what we had to do," continued Coach Peterson. "It doesn't have to be pretty this time of year. We just need to survive and advance. Our energy and effort laxed a bit after we got the big lead, but we came out in the second half a little more hungry. We need to put together a full forty minutes tomorrow."
Sam Massaquoi led Dawson with 16 points in 18 minutes. Justin Asi scored 15. Seth Amunrud and Jordan Jasper contributed 12 points and 10 points respectively.
Aguir Dawam finished with a game high 19 points and 9 rebounds.
Dawson will play North Dakota State College of Science in the Region XIII Tournament Championship Game Sunday afternoon at 3:00 pm MST in Wahpeton, North Dakota. The game will be live streamed at: https://www.youtube.com/@NDSCSAthletics. The winner will advance to the District Championship in Iowa on March 16th.