Dawson Takes Down Undefeated Gillette
Back on November 16th in Wyoming, Gillette College handed the Dawson Bucs their first loss on the season. On Friday night in Montana, the Bucs repaid the Pronghorns by handing them their first loss of the season 102-99. Gillette came into the game with a perfect 12-0 record, averaging 110 points a game. Dawson was 10-1 on the season, averaging 104 points a game.
The Bucs started well with lay-ups from Jordan Jasper and Brandon Hymes. Justin Asi followed up with three-pointers on consecutive possessions to give Dawson a 10-3 lead. Gillette came back to take the lead 14-13 on a lay-up by Dane Christiensen. That was the first of 16 lead changes in the first half. Dawson took the lead for good at 37-36 on another Asi 3-pointer. That was the start of a 20-8 run which gave Dawson its largest lead of the game 55-44. The run was capped by back to back three's from Seth Amunrud and Asi's fourth 3-pointer of the half. Caleb Hollenback came back for Gillette to get a traditional 3-point play to make the score 55-47 going into the break. Asi and Amunrud led Dawson in the opening twenty minutes with 18 points and 15 points respectively. Christensen and Hollenback led the visitors with 14 and 12. The Bucs shot 54% from the field and 56% from the 3-point line in the half, highlighted by Asi's 4-4 performance and Amunrud's 3-5 shooting.
The home team maintained control throughout the second half. They continued to shoot it well inside and outside while dominating the glass. Dawson's leading scorer on the season, Seth Amunrud, fouled out with over six minutes remaining. A minute later, their second leading scorer, Justin Asi, also fouled out. At that point the score was 96-88. Brandon Hymes and Jordan Jasper both scored on lay-ups on DCC's next two possessions. Javonne Nesbit scored for Gillette and Dane Christensen made 1-2 on free throws to pull the Pronghorns within two points at 101-99 with 1:31 left. Those ended up being the last points Gillette scored on the night as Dawson held on for the three point win. The Pronghorns had three 3-point attempts and a dunk attempt in the final 1:31, but didn't convert any of them. DCC held Gillette 11 points below their season average. It was only the third time all year Gillette hasn't scored 100 points or more. The hosts outrebounded the visitors 43-28 for the game and 13-9 on the offensive glass. Despite turning it over 17 times, the Bucs managed to shoot 51.5% from the field and 50% from the three point line. They were also 14-15 from the free throw line before missing three in the final minute.
"I was proud of our toughness tonight against a very good team, especially after facing some adversity," shared Dawson Coach Joe Peterson. "It was good for our guys to be able to make plays at the end of the game after Justin and Seth fouled out. Everyone played and contributed. Our depth and rebounding really won this game for us. This is as good of a team as we will play all year long."
Justin Asi finished with a game high 31 points in only 20 minutes. He was 11-16 from the field and 5-6 from the three-point line. He also collected 6 offensive rebounds before fouling out. Seth Amunrud had 24 points in 24 minutes. He was 8-13 from the field, 4-6 from beyond the arc and 4-4 from the free throw line. The other double digit scorers for Dawson were Jordan Jasper with 14 points, Brandon Hymes with 11 points and Ade Onaleye with 10 points. Aries Lews pulled down a game high 9 rebounds. Dorrell Thomas led six double digit scorers for Gillette with 22 points.
Dawson moves to 11-1 on the season and will host the 11-3 Casper College Thunderbirds on Saturday at 6:00 pm before taking a break for Christmas.
