Buccaneers Summer Success
It has been a busy summer for several of the DCC Buccaneers. While the campus has been fairly quiet and the men's basketball players have been back at home, a lot has been happening in the lives of several current and future Bucs.
Seth Amunrud starred in the Montana-Wyoming All-Star game in June, earning Rocky Erickson's unofficial MVP of the weekend. Since then, he has stayed busy working basketball camps throughout Montana.
Aussies Kur Maler and Justin Asi traveled from Down Under to play with their Red Roos AAU team in a couple of tournaments in Orlando, Florida. They ended up going 11-0 in their two tournaments over the second week in July, winning the ESPN AAU World Championship against other teams from all over the globe. They also won the Big House Tournament, defeating teams from New York, Chicago and other parts of the U.S. Asi was named the Tournament MVP. Their Red Roo team was coached by former Buccaneer and Red Roo player, Michael Jok. Jok now plays at NCAA D2 Minot State University.
Returning sophomore Aleksis Nika played in the FIBA U20 European Championship Division B in Skopje, North Macedonia. His Albanian team had their struggles, losing two games by two points when they were ahead in the fourth quarter; but Nika shined by averaging 8 points and 6 rebounds in their seven games. He was second on the team in efficiency at 10.4 and he had the best plus/minus on the team.
Roniel Oguekwe is another returning sophomore for Dawson this year. He was able to spend a week in Ohio at the Athletes in Action Captains Academy before going back home. Since being back in Ireland, he's been able to practice with the national team some. His biggest highlight though was the opportunity to visit the Holy Land in Israel with his family. .
A couple of the guys have spent time coaching. In addition to Seth Amunrud, Cale Chamberlain has also been coaching basketball camps around Montana. Returner Ty Buckmon helped out coaching his brother's AAU team in Texas in a couple of tournaments.
Other teammates have been busy working steady jobs and spending time training for the upcoming year in the weight room, on the track and in the gym. The one thing they all have in common though, is the excitement to get back to campus and begin working as a team to make the 2023-2024 season a great one! DCC students will be reporting on August 19th and classes begin on August 23rd.