DCC Gives a Scare to #12 Ranked NDSCS
Bucs lose 79-69 to NDSCS
Last January, DCC defeated the North Dakota State College of Science Wildcats at home and ignited their conference season. In the 13 months since that game, NDSCS has only lost 2 games; one was at the National Tournament in the Sweet 16 and the other was earlier this year. Monday night in the Toepke Center the Buccaneers were trying to duplicate last year’s success. Even without leading scorer, Daniel Shedden, the Bucs hung tough throughout the night.
In the first half, DCC held the Wildcats leading scorer James Batemon without a basket. Batemon was able to get it going in the 2nd half to finish with 16, but only shot 5-14 on the night and it was 6 points under his average. The Wildcats 2nd leading scorer, Gach Gach, started strong with 12 points in the first half, but DCC held him scoreless in the 2nd half to keep him 6 points below his average. DCC played tight defense all night long, holding NDSCS to 46% shooting which is significantly lower than their conference average of 52%. They also held them to 28% from the 3 point line where they have been shooting 42% for the season.
Unfortunately, the Bucs couldn’t get it going on offense either, shooting 34% from the field, 18% from the 3 point line and a paltry 40% from the free-throw line. NDSCS carried a 4 point advantage into the locker room at half-time and built on that lead early in the 2nd half with the help of a few driving lay-ups and a technical foul. Their biggest lead was 48-34, but the Bucs never gave up and fought back into it. For most of the rest of the game, the lead hovered between 8-12 points.
In their 7 conference games before Monday night, NDSCS was winning by an average of 29 points. There was no blowout on this night, but in the end, the visitors from Wahpeton made the plays necessary to hang on to the lead.
Brendon Chevannes had a good game for the Bucs with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. Stefan Stubbs continued his stellar play with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Brent Finn also chipped in with 12 points.
DCC Coach Joe Peterson had this to say, “I liked the effort we had tonight. Wahpeton has been blowing everyone out by 30 or 40, but we fought hard and kept it close. It’s pretty remarkable that we shot as bad as we did and still had a chance to beat the 12th best team in the country. If we handle the ball like that and defend and rebound the way we did tonight, we have a chance to beat anyone. We were getting good shots and I know they will start falling soon.”
The Bucs hit the road again to travel to 2nd place Lake Region for a Wednesday night game before returning home on Sunday afternoon to battle United Tribes Technical College.
