DCC Buccaneers Lose by 6 to Casper College
After a big win on the previous night, the Dawson Buccaneers fought hard, but came up short against Casper College, losing 97-91 in the final game of the Gillette Border Wars Sunday afternoon. Even though they are shooting 65% from the free throw line on the year, the T-Birds were lights out against the Bucs, connecting on 23-25 (92%). They also forced 22 turnovers in the game.
Dawson Coach Joe Peterson shared, “We gave away the ball too many times tonight and gave their shooters too many open looks during a couple stretches. We kept digging ourselves a hole which is hard to climb out of.”
In both halves, Casper got up by double digits. In the first, after being down by 11 points halfway through, Dawson came roaring back to take a five point lead eight minutes later. Both teams were playing their third game in three days, but neither looked tired or wanted to slow down the pace. Both teams were near perfect at the charity stripe. The Bucs went 11-13 and the T-Birds were 10-10. In a high scoring first half, Dawson shot 53% from the field and outrebounded Casper, taking a 51-50 edge into the locker room.
Casper started the second half strong, seizing the lead on the first possession and connecting on four triples in the early going. They went up by as much as 13 points in the first ten minutes of the second half. After that, Dawson cut it to a six point deficit several times, and each time they had good shots that could have made it a single possession game, but it wasn’t meant to be on this night.
The Bucs shot 52% from the field and 75% from the free throw line. They outscored the T-Birds in the paint, off the bench and in second chance points, but couldn’t overcome the great free throw shooting.
Joe Mpoyo led Dawson once again with a very efficient 23 points and 6 rebounds. Four others reached double figures for Dawson including 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists from Ty Buckmon. Chris Davidson, Garett Diekhans and David Ajanaku all reached double figures.
Kendard Richardson had a game high 25 points for Casper. Jarren Harris had 23 points and Dalton Peterson had 17.
“I was proud of how well we rebounded in this game,” said Peterson. “It has been a great weekend for us. They did a great job hosting this event. We played three tough teams that made us better, and we really improved in some key areas like scoring in the paint, defending ball-screens and controlling the glass. This is a fun group to coach. I love seeing the improvement and growth on and off the court.”
The Bucs are now 9-4 on the season and will return home on Wednesday night at 6:00 pm for a match-up with the Dickinson State JV team.
