Dawson Back to Their Winning Ways

After playing their last five games on the road, the Dawson Buccaneers finally returned home and got
back to their winning ways. The Bucs beat the Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks 96-81 on
Monday night in Glendive. Dawson had lost three in a row, but controlled this game from start to finish
by dominating the boards (40-28) and holding the Jacks to 37% shooting on the night.

"I thought we got back to playing Dawson basketball tonight," proclaimed Dawson Coach Joe Peterson.
"We pressured them defensively and forced the pace of the game. We took a few bad shots, but did a
good job sharing the ball and got good contributions from everyone who played."

The Bucs scored the first basket of the game on a layup by David Ajanaku before Jacob Smith responded
with a 3-pointer for Dakota College. After two free throws by Loukas Triantis, Smith made another 3-
pointer to put the Jacks up 8-2. Dawson then went on a 12-0 run on a 3-pointer and two free throws
from Damon Gros Ventre, followed by a Joe Mpoyo 3-pointer and then baskets by Gros Ventre and Ty
Buckmon. Dawson never looked back from there. Minutes later they made another big run (11-0)
fueled by two 3's from Buckmon and another one from Gros Ventre. The closest DCB would get after
that was at 29-35, but Dawson stretched the lead to as many as 20 points after another Gros Ventre 3-
pointer and a lay-up from Mpoyo with 42 seconds remaining in the half.

Dakota College finished the half with a lay-up from Connor Trahan and a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Max Groom. The Bucs held a 52-37
advantage at the break. They were led in scoring by Gros Ventre's 13 points and Buckmon's 12 points.

The second half was much more evenly played as Jacob Smith continued his hot shooting from long
range and Brendan Redhead started scoring as well. Redhead cut the deficit to seven points at 71-64
with 7:17 remaining. Dawson stretched the lead back to 16 points with a 9-0 run over the next three
minutes and sailed to another easy home win. The Bucs are 9-0 at home this season and have won 48 of
their last 51 games at home over the past three years.

Ten Buccaneers got in the scoring column and eleven in the rebounding column. Gros Ventre led the
way with a game high 23 points in 23 minutes on 8-14 shooting. He also added 7 rebounds. Buckmon
finished with 16 points and 7 assists. Mpoyo scored 12 and Ajanaku had 11. Smith finished with 20
points on 5-6 3-pointers for the Jacks. Redhead had 17 and Triantis had 16.

Dawson improves to 19-7 overall and 13-4 in conference games. They will be on the road Thursday in
Williston before returning home next Monday night. Dakota College Bottineau falls to 18-9 overall and
11-7 in conference.