(Editor's note: DCC Athletics release)
GLENDIVE - The Dawson Community College basketball men won their 15th game in a row and finished a 14-0regular season in the Mon-Dak conference with a come-from-behind 121-101 road win at Bismarck State College. As the No. 1 seed, the Bucs will host the Region XIII Tournament in Glendive for the first time ever Thursday through Saturday.
Coach Joe Peterson commented on the accomplishment, "We didn't want to just back into the post-season after clinching the title two weeks ago. We want to keep getting better every day and be playing our best basketball of the year right now. Our guys have stayed hungry and kept working hard. We got behind again, but I don't think there was ever a doubt in the mind of our players that we would win. They are pretty confident and know that over the course of 40 minutes our pressure and depth will wear them down and we will make the plays we need to in crunch time."
Dawson found themselves down by 16 points in both halves, but fought back each time. In the first half it was 47-31, but they outscored the Mystics the rest of the way 28-9 to go into the half down only 3 at 59-56. Jamison Kramer, Kyler McGillis and Joe Jahner Jr put up 18, 16 and 13 respectively in the first twenty minutes for Bismarck, connecting on a combined 10 shots from long range.
In the second half, Dawson took the lead early on but Bismarck's shots started falling again and they went up 16 just like in the first half. This time Dawson fought back with a vengeance and outscored the home team by 37 the rest of the way to sail to victory. The Bucs shot a blistering 59% in the final twenty minutes and forced 13 turnovers. For the game, the visitors grabbed 25 offensive rebounds and scored a whopping 35 second chance points to help them get their highest point total of the season in the final game.
Seven players reached double figures for Dawson led by Camron Dunfee's 24 points and Devin Collins 20 points and 7 rebounds. Kolten Hitt and CJ Nelson had 16 points apiece. Beau Santistevan finished with 14 points. Man Man Baker played a solid all-around game finishing with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals and 1 electrifying alley-oop dunk. Kayden Hitt was also in double figures with 10 points while Charles Lampten snagged 10 rebounds.
For Bismarck, Kramer finished with 29 points and McGillis had 26 points and 5 assists.
Dawson will get a bye in the first round of the Region XIII Tournament and will play Friday night at 5:30 vs. the winner of the #4/#5 game.
In the last game of the conference season, the Lady Bucs (7-7, 15-16) were unable pull out a victory against first place Bismarck State College (12-2, 26-4), losing 76-91.
Dawson started the game off in winning fashion taking a 25-18 lead after the first quarter, but lost the rest of the quarters with the 3rd quarter being the killer, 35-19. The Lady Bucs went into halftime leading 43-40, but the scoring power of the Lady Mystics kicked into gear after intermission. Bismarck was able to convert 23 points off of Dawson's 22 turnovers. Dawson outrebounded Bismarck 50-46 and won the 2nd chance points battle 21-15, but the scoring power of Courtney Olson and Amber Stevahn was too much for the Lady Bucs. Both Olson and Stevahn had 23 points apiece, with Olson adding 12 rebounds. Bismarck also shot 23-29 on free throws, while Dawson only shot 12-20.
Head Coach Romeo Lagmay, Jr. said, "It was a really good first half for us, but it takes two halves to win a game. Bismarck is number one for a reason, and if we are to beat them, we have to be ready in almost every category. I'm super happy our women played so hard tonight. They never gave up. And if we do not give up, we already know these games can go our way at times. We're excited for tournament action this week."
Tamiya Francis led both teams in scoring with 27 points, along with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Ashya Klopfenstein had another double double with 19 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Ashley Orozco contributed 9 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals.
Dawson will play Lake Region State College this Friday in the opening game of the Region XIII tournament in Bismarck this Friday, February 28th. Dawson is the #5 seed and Lake Region is #4. The winner of that game will play #1 Bismarck State College on Saturday in the semi-finals.
