Dawson Moves into Tip-Off Tournament Championship Game
The Dawson Buccaneers forced 28 turnovers and scored 26 points off turnovers to run away from the Lake Region State College Royals 85-71 in the semi-finals of the Mon-Dak Conference Tip-Off Tournament Saturday night in New Town, ND. It’s the third straight year the Bucs have reached the Championship Game in the tournament. They will face off against United Tribes Technical College who beat North Dakota State College of Science in overtime in the first semifinal.
There were four ties and three lead changes in the early going before the Bucs jumped out to a 29-17 lead to take control of the game. Even though the Royals shot 77% from the field in the first half, they found themselves trailing 48-40 because they allowed 8 offensive rebounds and had 15 turnovers with the Bucs scoring 16 points off those turnovers. Dawson had 18 more shots than LRSC in the half (40-22). The Bucs were led by Chris Adieng’s 10 points and Payton Sander’s 9. Ja’vion Byers led Lake Region with 16 points on 7-7 shooting.
In the second half the Royals only cooled slightly as they still shot 62%, but they continued turning it over and Dawson built their lead to 17 points, cruising to the 14 point victory. Lake Region finished with 28 turnovers and Dawson capitalized by scoring 26 points off those turnovers.
“The box score of this game was one of the craziest I have ever seen,” shared Dawson Coach Joe Peterson. We shot 26 more shots than they did, but only made 2 more and still managed to win because we got so many more possessions from turnovers and offensive rebounds. Our effort was great and togetherness was great. It was a great team win with everyone contributing.”
Seven guys scored at least 8 points for Dawson, led by Joe Mpoyo’s 15 points, Chris Adieng’s 14 points and Ty Buckmon’s 12 points. Buckmon also added 7 assists and 4 steals. Byers ended with 21 points for Lake Region while Sam Faraday and Mayson Brown had 11 points each.
Dawson and United Tribes will play in the Championship Game at 5:15 pm CST at the 4Bears Events Center in New Town, ND.
