Another Win for the Dawson Men
Dawson steadily built up a thirteen point lead in the first half, capped by a tip-in at the buzzer by Michael Jok; and they never looked back to win 84-71 on the road at Bismarck State Sunday afternoon. They forced 13 turnovers in that opening half and dominated in the paint, outscoring the Mystics 18-4. Dawson came out after half-time even stronger and increased the lead to 16 a few minutes in, but Bismarck battled back and eventually cut it to four with 2:52 left. The visiting Buccaneers buckled down and didn't allow another field goal after that, outscoring BSC 9-0 to close it out. DCC dominated the rebounding battle 43-29 and 2nd chance points 18-5. They also punished Bismarck in the paint 36-18.
"I thought it was a pretty gutty performance," said Coach Joe Peterson. "It's not easy to beat a team three times in a season and Bismarck kept fighting. I thought we would put them away earlier than we did, but I give credit to them for sticking around. Our guys did a good job of getting to the basket and getting to the boards. It's not easy to win on the road, but we took care of business. Mike really played well and kept things together for us. His composure, leadership and versatility helps us in so many ways that many people probably don’t realize."
All ten Buccaneers got into the scoring column and four reached double digits, paced by Michael Jok's 16 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. Jajuan Tot contributed 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Reggie Martin had 13 points and 9 rebounds. Jalen Tot had 10 points and 5 rebounds.
Seth Nelson had 18 points and 7 rebounds for Bismarck. Jerrick Baines tallied 19 points and 7 rebounds.
With the win, the Bucs match their win total from last season and have won at least 23 games in three straight years, and 4 of the last 5 years. They are 23-5 on the season and 15-4 in conference games with two games remaining. Bismarck is 12-14 and 7-12 in conference.
Dawson will travel to Lake Region State College on Wednesday, February 16th.
