(Editor's note: DCC/MCC Athletics releases)
MILES CITY - In their final regular season game, the Dawson Community College basketball men won at Miles Community College 100-72 while DCC's women held off MCC 78-76
For the men, Sunday marked their fifth straight win and fourth consecutive road win. The Buccaneers finished the regular season with a 25-5 record and 17-4 conference record. They close out the season in second place and will get a first round bye in the upcoming Region XIII Tournament. The Bucs will play in the semifinals on Sunday night in Wahpeton, North Dakota against the winner of the #3/#6 match-up between Lake Region State College and Miles.
Bucs Coach Joe Peterson shared his thoughts, “It was kind of an ugly game. We didn’t take very good care of the ball on offense and didn’t guard the ball very well on defense. We will need to play much better if we want to make a strong post-season run.”
DCC got off to a fast start in both halves. In the beginning of the game they reeled off a 12-2 run and never looked back. Rebounding was a big key for Dawson as they controlled the glass in the first half 26-17. Hot shooting from Jajuan Tot and DeAngelo Horn kept the visitors ahead comfortably most of the way. Tot scored 12 and Horn scored 11, including a lay-up with seven seconds remaining to give Dawson a 41-28 lead going into the break.
Out of half-time, the Bucs continued the momentum, increasing the lead to twenty points four minutes in. Tot’s hot shooting carried over with a couple more three-pointers; and Michael Jok also hit two more from long range. Dawson kept dominating the boards with a 25-18 advantage to win the battle 51-35 overall. The visitors exploded for 59 points in the second half to win by 28. One of the leading 3-point shooting teams in the country, Dawson didn’t disappoint on Sunday, connecting on 14-30 (47%).
Jajuan Tot had a game high 23 points to pace five Bucs in double figures. Jok contributed 18 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Reggie Martin added 14 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Horn finished with 12 points while Kennedy Brown tallied 10 points along with 12 rebounds.
Four guys reached double figures led by Zach Baker and Blessing Adesipe who both scored 15 points.
Meantime, Hailee Brandon (Big Timber, MT) had a double double with 19 points (9-20 FG, 0-4 3's, 1-3 FT) and 10 rebounds while teammate Eva Kingston (Eli, NV) had 22 points (10-14 FG, 1-3's, 1-1 FT) as DCC held off MCC in a 78-76 win. Sabira Ahayeva (Minsk, Belarus) added 10 points (2-6 FG, 6-9 FT) for the Bucs.
Dawson's largest lead was 7 points in the 1st quarter and MCC led by as many as 5 points in the 3rd quarter. There were 8 ties and 8 lead changes in the game and the Pioneers Citlalli Gurolla (San Diego, CA) missed a 3-point attempt in the final seconds that would have given the Pioneers the win. Dawson led 19-18 after a quarter and MCC led 40-36 at the half. Dawson then reclaimed the lead by 1 point (60-59) after 3 quarters before the hard fought 4th.
The Pioneers were led by sophomore Kelbee Denham (Malta, MT) with 19 points (5-9 FG, 3-5 3's, 6-8 FT) and 6 rebounds. She was joined in double figures by Ella Paleea-Cook (Melbourne, Australia) with 14 points (4-7 FG, 2-4 3's, 4-5 FT), Milly Cockburn (Christchurch, New Zealand) with 11 points (4-6 FG, 1-2 3's, 2-4 FT), a team high 7 rebounds, and Gabby Flute Player (Flandreau, SD) with 10 points (4-6 FG, 0-2 3's, 2-2 FT).
The same teams will meet again in Glendive on Wednesday night in the Region XIII Playoffs at 6 p.m. Miles fell to 7-23 overall and 5-16 in MonDak Conference play. Dawson finished 18-11 overall and 12-9 in MonDak play.
