Dawson Takes Care of Miles
The Dawson men's basketball team improved to 19-2 on the season and 5-0 in conference with a 100-87 win on the road against the Miles Community College Pioneers. The Buccaneers raced out to a 58-46 half-time lead and stayed in control throughout the second half. It was their 6th straight win.
In the first half, Dawson was +5 in forcing turnovers and +7 on the offensive glass. That led to fifteen more field goal attempts. Even though Miles shot 58% compared to Dawson's 49%, the extra shots helped the visitors take an even score at 33 with seven minutes remaining and build a 15 point lead before Miles cut the deficit to 12 points at the break. Seth Amunrud, Justin Asi and Kur Maler led the charge by scoring 16, 13 and 10 respectively. Yohandry Ortiz was difficult to stop for Miles, netting 17 first half points.
Miles started the second half strong, but Dawson fought back with consecutive three's from Amunrud to lead by 19 points with 13 minutes remaining. Miles didn't fold and made it close at the end, closing the gap to five points with a few minutes left. Brandon Hymes and Aries Lewis made back to back three's to stretch the lead back to double digits and the Bucs sealed the game down the stretch with free throws. Dawson ended up winning a much lower scoring second half, 42-41. The Pioneers only made 38% from the field in the second half and 2-14 from the 3-point line. Both teams were pretty even on the boards and in shooting percentages for the game.
"Miles played tough tonight," shared Dawson Coach Joe Peterson. "They competed hard and didn't back down. I thought our intensity wasn't quite what it needed to be for most of the game. It's good for us to play in that kind of environment and to be challenged that way. We have to play with intensity but we also have to play smart. We got some timely stops at the end and made some clutch baskets to put it away, but I think we could've put it away earlier if we played harder and smarter."
Amunrud finished with a team high 30 points, including five 3-pointers. Justin Asi had 19 points. Kur Maler added 12 points and 9 rebounds. Delray Lilley rounded out the double digit scorers with 10. Yohandry Ortiz led Miles with 31 points and Koak Kok finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Dawson returns home for their Hall of Fame Game on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 vs. Dakota College. On Monday they will host Williston State College at 7:30 pm.
