Dawson beats Bismarck in the 1st round of the Region XIII Playoffs 109-101
Dawson Community College and Bismarck State played each other in the first round of the NJCAA Region XIII playoffs. It was the 2nd time they faced off in the past 4 days with Bismarck winning the final regular season game on Thursday. It was a different outcome this time with the Buccaneers emerging with the victory 109-101. The Bucs will travel to Wahpeton, ND to play the North Dakota State College of Science Wildcats in a Wednesday evening game at 7:30 pm CST. That will be the Regional Semifinals. The Bucs are looking to get back to the Regional Championship game for the 3rd straight year. It won’t be easy against the 9th best team in the country who will be coming in with a 29-1 record on the year including an undefeated mark in the conference.
On Sunday in Bismarck, the Bucs had a hard time slowing down Jesse Roberts in the first half. Robert had 4 3-pointers in the early going, scoring 12 of the team’s first 14 points. The Mystics of Bismarck hit 8 shots from long range in the first half. Roberts finished the half with 17 and guard Brody Nieuwsma pitched in 14. Bismarck built an 8 point lead at 40-32, but the visitors came charging back with a 13-2 run to claim the lead. There were 9 lead changes and 5 ties in the opening half, which ended all knotted up at 52. The Bucs had a balanced attack with Stefan Stubbs and Kolton Wall leading the way with 12 points each and the other 7 Buccaneers, who saw playing time, all got in the scoring column. The Buccaneers had a big advantage on the boards at 30-18 and capitalized on 11 offensive rebounds to score 14 second chance points compared to 0 for the Mystics. Bismarck had the advantage at the free-throw line though converting 12 of their 14 attempts.
Bismarck started the 2nd half where they left off on the first half by getting a three-pointer by Jesse Roberts, who was also fouled on the play. He hit the free-throw to put them up by 4 just a few seconds into the half. It was back and forth for a while until Bismarck went on a 12-3 run to go up by 7 points. The Buccaneers didn’t give up though and went on a run of their own to go up 98-87 with 4 minutes remaining. Bismarck was able to close the gap to 6 points in the final minute, but never got any closer than that. With a chance to cut it to 3 or 4 points, Dawson’s Kade Osborne drew a charge and they iced it with some big free throws from Brent Finn. The game was filled with fouls; 28 for Dawson and 32 for Bismarck. The teams combined to shoot 87 free throws. Three Mystics fouled out and two Buccaneers before it was over.
Stefan Stubbs led the way for the victorious Bucs with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Kolton Wall had 22 points and 6 rebounds. Three other Bucs were in double figures; Daniel Shedden had 18, Brent Finn 16 and Brendon Chevannes had 14 points to go along with 13 assists. For the Mystics, Brody Nieuswma lit it up with 35 points and Jesse Robert contributed 28 points and 12 rebounds.
Dawson shot 48% from the field and managed to get offensive rebounds on 39% of the shots they missed, which led to the highest scoring output in a while. They also took good care of the ball, only turning it over 12 times for the game.
Dawson Coach Joe Peterson was pleased, “At this time of year, you just need to survive and advance. I loved the effort and heart of this team. There were multiple points in this game when we could have lost heart and gave up, but they kept on fighting and kept on believing. When we play good defense and dominate the board like this, we have the potential to be a good team. And when Stubbs plays this well, it makes us tough to beat.”
And Coach Peterson went on to talk about Wednesday’s Semifinal, “We have played Wahpeton as tough as anyone has this season. Both times we played, we gave them a run for their money. They are a heck of a team; very talented and well-coached. Everyone knows that the road to the Region XIII Championship goes through Wahpeton. Whether you have to play them in the Semifinals or the Championship, it really doesn’t matter. That dragon has to be slayed at some point; so it might as well be us and it might as well be on Wednesday night!”
The game time for Wednesday’s game at Wahpeton is 7:30 pm CST and will be livestreamed on the NDSCS Athletics website.
