Dawson Reaches Championship Game Again

The Dawson Buccaneers are back in the Region XIII Championship Game again after defeating Bismarck State 74-63 in the semifinals on Saturday night in Wahpeton, ND. Dawson has won three straight Region XIII Championships and will be trying for a four-peat on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 MST. This will be the 7th time in the past 9 years that Dawson has reached the championship game and the 5th time they've faced North Dakota State College of Science in the championship game during that time span.

In Saturday's game, Dawson controlled the game from start to finish. There were three ties and four lead changes in the early going before Dawson went on an 11-0 run to seize control. They led 34-23 at intermission. Joe Mpoyo led the way with 13 points in the half as Dawson forced 13 turnovers and converted them into 19 points. The Mystics only made one three-pointer while Dawson was able to make five from long range.

Damon Gros Ventre connected on a triple at the start of the second half to extend the lead to fourteen points, but Bismarck went inside for some key buckets to keep it close. The lead stayed in double digits for most of the second half except at one point when BSC trimmed the lead to seven points. Their shooting from 3-point range was even worse in the second half (1-10) and they never really threatened the Bucs, as Dawson sailed to the double digit win. The Bucs had a big advantage in turnovers (11-19), but even more so in points off turnovers (26-8). Bismarck shot 2-17 from long range for the game. The Mystics won the battle on the boards, but it wasn't enough to keep Dawson out of the championship game again.

"Tonight was a really satisfying win against a good team," commented Dawson Coach Joe Peterson. "We played good defense, forced turnovers and executed well offensively. We played hard and played well together. Even though we were a little short-handed and banged up, our guys showed a lot of grit. We are locked in and excited for another great game tomorrow."

Mpoyo finished with a game high 23 points and a game high 8 rebounds. Chris Davidson and David Ajanaku also reached double figures with 10 points each. Ty Buckmon had a solid overall performance with 8 points, 4 assists, 3 steals and no turnovers.

Anthony Bertucci led Bismarck with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Jayden Bernard had 14 points and 6 rebounds.

With their sixth straight win, Dawson improves to 24-7 overall The Region XIII Championship Game will be the fourth meeting this year between Dawson and North Dakota State College of Science. The livestream for Sunday's 3:00 pm MST championship game can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@NDSCSAthletics/streams. NDSCS won at home in November. Dawson won their home game in January and then NDSCS won again at home in February. The winner of Sunday's championship game will host the District Championship Game next Saturday against Southeastern Community College from Iowa.