DCC Picks up Crucial Road Win at Dakota College
Bucs win 92-71
The Dawson Community College Buccaneers picked up a tough, hard fought road win at Dakota College Bottineau on Monday night 92-71. Tate Savoie got the visitors off to a hot start by scoring the first 11 points out of the gate, including 3 for 3 from behind the arc. The Lumberjacks stayed in the game behind the scoring of Jibril Wyckoff who came off the bench to score 17 in the first half. There were six lead changes early on before the Bucs took control with a 12-2 run. Dawson ran out to an 18 point lead with a minute remaining in the first half, but Dakota College closed out the half with a mini 7-2 run. DCC went into the locker room firmly in control with a 46-33 lead. Even though the Lumberjacks forced 12 turnovers, it wasn’t enough as the visitors shots 55% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line while holding Dakota College to 28% shooting from the field and dominating the boards 29-12. Brent Finn added 9 points on three 3-pointers to go along with Savoie’s 11 points.
The Lumberjacks came out of the locker room after halftime with a lot more enthusiasm and energy and tried to gain some momentum by forcing turnovers. They made a few runs in the 2nd half, but never got closer than 6 points and for most of the half the lead stayed in the 10-12 point range for the Bucs. Eventually they built on their lead by getting stops on defense, gathering the rebound and executing well on offense. The largest lead of the game came at 90-69. DCC’s advantage on the boards stayed consistent throughout the night. Their shooting cooled off a little in the second half, but they made the plays necessary to get the convincing road victory 92-71.
Finn finished with 22 points, including 6 from long range. Savoie, Tyrel Harper and Bret Vester joined Finn with double digits. It was another true team effort for the Bucs with 10 guys getting in the scoring column and 8 guys getting at least 3 rebounds on the night. They outrebounded Dakota College 56-33 for the game, had 36 points off the bench and led in assists 20-12. Their great defense held the home team to 33% shooting on the night and 31% from long range. The only downside was committing 21 turnovers.
DCC Coach Joe Peterson was proud of his team, “They showed a lot of toughness tonight against a very talented team in a hostile environment on the road. This is one of the most difficult places to play in the region. Bottineau tried to make some runs and tried to turn it into an ugly game, but we showed a lot of composure and stayed together as a team. This is a good win that we can build on. Vester and Barrett were great off the bench for us and our depth was a big key to the victory.”
The Bucs now stand at 16-6 and are 3-2 in the league. Dakota College is 17-4 on the season. Dawson returns home to take on Stone Child College at 7:30 pm on Thursday night.
