Bucs Hold Off Stingy Rocky Team
The DCC Buccaneers jumped out to a 13-2 lead early and led the entire way until 1:05 remaining in the 2nd half when Rocky tied it up at 68 on a free throw by D’Andre Bryant, but the Bucs held them scoreless in the last minute and prevailed 73-68. DCC dominated early on, starting the game with a lay-up by Reece Green, 5 straight points from Simon Falokun and a basket by Brent Finn put them up 9-2. On the next possession Falokun got a dunk and then Tate Savoie got a backdoor lay-up on a nice pass from Finn to put the Bucs up by 11 just a few minutes into the game. The Battlin Bears didn’t fold though. They eventually fought back to pull within 3 at 30-27 with 3:47 left. The visitors from DCC closed out the half on a 12-2 run that was highlighted by a 35 foot shot at the buzzer by David Shepard. That put the score at 42-29 at the intermission. Dawson shot 50% from the field in the first half and held Rocky to 34%. Rocky shot better from outside the arc (38%). The other big difference was DCC outscoring RMC in the paint 30-6.
The second half started the way the first one ended, with a DCC run. Dawson scored the first 7 points of the 2nd half with Travon Hamilton getting a fastbreak lay-up on a pass from Finn, followed by a basket by Green and a 3-pointer from Finn. That was the Bucs largest lead of the night, 49-29. Once again, Rocky kept battling and cut it to 10 points with 5:35 remaining. Then they went on a 12-2 run to tie the score with 1:05 remaining. Dawson played good defense in the final minute to hold Rocky scoreless the rest of the way. After it was tied, Falokun scored a traditional 3 point play on a good pass from Shepard. Hamilton followed that up with a free-throw with 17.6 seconds remaining to put the Bucs up by four and then Shepard closed it out with one more free throw in the final seconds. The Bucs outshot the Bears 46% to 32% and won the battle of the boards by 11 in the 2nd half. Eleven three-pointers kept Rocky in it, but it wasn’t enough for them to ever get the lead. Except for the one tie, DCC held the lead for the entire game as they have been doing most of the season. Falokun led the Bucs with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Shepard and Finn each contributed 14 points and Green pulled down 13 rebounds.
DCC Coach Joe Peterson was relieved, “It wasn’t our best night, but we made the plays down the stretch that we needed to so we could get the victory. I thought our defense was pretty consistent all night, but on the other end we could have taken better care of the ball. We are still learning, growing and trying to improve every day.”
The win moves Dawson to 9-1 on the season and they will be traveling to play Little Big Horn College on Monday night.
