Dawson Easily Handles Visiting Bears
For the second straight day, the DCC Buccaneers used a strong first half and cruised to a blowout victory. It was close for the first five minutes of the game with the visiting Rocky Mountain College Battlin Bears getting a 3-pointer on their first possession by Josh Bodin. Devin Collins answered for the Bucs with a lay-up and then Marcus Stephens followed that up with another lay-up to put the Bucs up 4-3. Camron Dunfee then scored on a drive for a three point advantage before Bodin scored twice to retake the lead for the visitors. Stephens responded with another basket and then Dunfee hit a corner 3-pointer. The Bears Braxton Haws made a 3-pointer of his own with 15:15 left in the half that brought them within one point at 11-10. Over the next 11 minutes and 20 seconds the Bucs limited the Bears to just one basket as their pressure forced numerous turnovers and propelled them to a 39-3 run.
Rocky found themselves down 59-18 at half-time. Dawson shot 63% from the field and 55% from the 3-point line in the first half and forced 15 turnovers, scoring 25 points off of those turnovers. They also dominated the boards 29-12, collecting 91% of the defensive rebounding opportunities. It was a balanced attack with 11 players getting into the scoring column. Stephens led the way with 11 points, followed by 9 points from Dunfee, 8 points from Man Man Baker and 7 from Kolten Hitt. Their defense was suffocating, forcing turnovers and holding Rocky to 24% shooting from the field.
The second half was a much more balanced affair, but the outcome was never in question with the visitors never pulling closer than a 36 point deficit. The Bucs outscored them 38-31 in the second half and won the game 97-49. All twelve of the Bucs scored on the night and collected at least one rebound. Eight players had at least one assist and nine had at least one steal. Dawson finished the game shooting 57% from the field and 48% from the 3-point line. They held Rocky below 30% shooting from the field and from the 3-point line. The Bucs dominated the glass 54-26, scored 19 second chance points and collected 18 steals.
Bucs Coach Joe Peterson was pleased with the effort, “We’ve played a really tough schedule up to this point, so it was nice to get up early in this one and work on some different things. They competed really well against us at their place a couple of weeks ago and gave Miles a scare last night, but I think our pressure really bothered them and our depth wore them down. I loved our defensive intensity in the first half and the way we controlled the boards. We have been getting a lot better and I think it showed this weekend.
Marcus Stephens paced the Bucs with 18 points on 8/13 shooting as well grabbing 6 rebounds. Man Man Baker filled up the stat sheet with 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. Cam'ron Dunfee contributed 14 points in the victory. Dawson also got a workmanlike effort from Devin Collins as he pulled down 10 rebounds, 6 of them on the offensive glass, and had 9 points.
Rocky JV was led by Josh Bodin with 14 points and 8 boards. Dustin Fox and Braxton Haws each had 8 points with both hitting 2 3 pointers.
After they take their final exams this week, the Bucs will play one more game before taking a break for Christmas. They will host Stone Child College on Friday at noon.
