Dawson Wins 3rd in a Row
The Dawson Community College Buccaneers kept their hot streak going with an 83-65 win over the Central Wyoming College Rustlers. The game was a much closer affair than the final score makes it look. It was a one possession game with 5:08 remaining and DCC was clinging to a 66-63 lead. Over the final five minutes, the Bucs outscored them 17-2 to win the game. The run started with a steal and lay-up from Man Man Baker. On the next possession, Baker stole it again and kicked it ahead to Kolten Hitt for a layup. And then the Bucs got the ball back and Baker found Devin Collins inside for a bucket. The Bucs pushed the lead to double digits when Baker grabbed a defensive rebound and raced up the court to find Hitt open in the corner for a 3-pointer. The only points CWC had in the final five minutes was a basket by Jerroda Briscoe. It was a dominating finish to the game for Dawson who held the Rustlers 28 points shy of their season scoring average.
The stingy Bucs defense held the visitors to 37% field goal shooting on the night and a miniscule 30% in the second half. They forced 25 turnovers on 20 steals and scored 32 points off of turnovers. The Bucs offense was pretty solid too as they shot 55% from the field on the night and accumulated 22 assists.
DCC maintained control for most of the first half though there were 6 ties in the half and 2 lead changes. The Bucs biggest lead in the opening half was at 20-13. They also built a six point lead a minute before halftime when CJ Nelson hit a 3-pointer, Marcus Stephens scored on a drive and Reece Green added another basket. It looked like they would go into the intermission with a solid lead, but two turnovers and a basket by David Simental followed by a three-pointer at the buzzer from Brady Fullerton drew the Rustlers within a point at 32-31. The home team maintained their lead throughout the second half and then closed out the game in style.
Dawson Coach Joe Peterson liked the effort, “Some of our early season setbacks have helped us learn how to close out games. We really put the clamp down defensively in the final five minutes. I think we wore them down with our pressure and depth. They didn’t seem to have much energy left at the end. It was good for us to get another quality win against a good team.”
Marcus Stephens led the way for the Buccaneers with 16 points and 5 assists. CJ Nelson and Cam Dunfee contributed 12 points and 3 assists apiece, while Devin Collins had a solid 10 point 4 rebound performance. Man Man Baker made his mark on the game in a variety of different ways finishing with 8 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, and 6 steals.
Central Wyoming was led by Darius Guinn with 19 points and Jacob Smith who had 11 points. Jerroda Briscoe was the only other guy in double figures for Central Wyoming with 10 points and he also grabbed 4 rebounds.
The Bucs hit the road for games at Sheridan and Powell this weekend before returning home on December 8th and 9th.
