McPherson signs at Montana Tech
Dawson Community College’s Gavin McPherson signed his National Letter of Intent with Montana Tech this week. The 2014 graduate of Dawson County High School was originally recruited to DCC by legendary coach Don Mast. He red-shirted his first year with DCC and then played the past two seasons for Coach Joe Peterson.
In high school at DCHS, McPherson competed in tennis, football and golf, as well as basketball. When he began focusing on basketball in college, he made drastic improvements in his skill level and was fortunate to get a late growth spurt. 1st year Oredigger basketball coach Adam Hiatt was excited to get a proven quality player as well as a solid young man. He announced McPherson’s signing along with 5 high school seniors. He commented, “We are really excited about the quality of this initial recruiting class. Each one of these individuals has tremendous potential and, more importantly, are high character young men. It was important for us to recruit the best talent in Montana and the surrounding region. Finding and developing talent of this caliber will be key to establishing a consistent winning program. All of these players have shown a high basketball skill level and IQ, the ability to score the ball, speed, toughness and athleticism.”
As a freshman at Dawson, McPherson averaged 5 points in 12 minutes per game. As a sophomore he led the Bucs in three-point shooting with 78 3’s (2.5 per game) which was twice as many as anyone else on the team. He averaged 10 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 22 minutes per game. McPherson scored in double figures fifteen times this season, including a season high 22 against nationally ranked Gillette College.
DCC Coach Joe Peterson had this to say, “I was fortunate to inherit Gavin when I took the job at DCC. He is friendly and outgoing and helps to bring people together. He has always been a good shooter, but what has impressed me is how much he has developed his movement without the ball, running the floor, and finishing at the basket, as well as making strides defensively and on the boards. He has become a much more complete player. He also took a big step forward this year with his leadership. I know the people in Glendive loved being able to come out and watch him play for a couple more years. He was a great ambassador for our program in the community. We will miss him here, but are so excited that he gets to move on and continue his college basketball career and education. Tech seems to be a great fit for him. With his character and work ethic, I know he will be successful at whatever he chooses to do in life.”
