Dawson Takes Care of Business Against Western Wyoming

The Dawson Bucs stayed undefeated Friday night with a 77-68 win over Western Wyoming College at the Rustler Shootout at Central Wyoming College in Riverton, Wyoming. They tallied 26 assists and only 12 turnovers in the game and connected on 14-17 from the free throw line in the second half to seal the win. It was their fourth straight win to start the season. Dawson will play the host team, CWC, on Saturday at 3:00 pm.

"It is always a dogfight when you play Western Wyoming," explained Dawson Coach Joe Peterson. "They are tough and physical and very well-coached, we didn't shoot it very well and they really sprinted the floor hard and hurt us in transition, but I liked how we kept battling until the end."

Western Wyoming started strong in the opening minutes, but the Buccaneers got it going with a mini- run to gain an eight-point advantage with 13:42 left in the first half. That ended up being their largest lead until the closing minutes of the game. WWC regained the lead and built it up to five points with forty seconds to go in the half. After a basket by Seth Amunrud, Jordan Jasper connected from long range for Dawson to send the game to half-time in a 34-34 deadlock. The teams were dead even on fast break points, points off turnovers, bench scoring and field goal percentage. There were six ties and four lead changes.

The Bucs took control of the game early in the second half and kept the lead the rest of the way. Justin Asi dominated inside with 15 points in the second half by going 6-9 from the field. After being outscored in the paint for the first half, Dawson won the battle inside 22-10 in the second half.

Dawson was victorious despite shooting only 34% from the field and 24% from the 3-point line. Free- throw shooting made up some of that deficit; and their defense came through by forcing 20 turnovers and holding WWC to 36% shooting from the field and 27% from the free throw line.

Asi finished with 21 points on 9-13 shooting. Ty Buckmon was the only other Buccaneer in double figures with 11 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Seth Amunrud and Aleksis Nika also pulled down 7 rebounds each. WWC was led by Micah Pierce's 17 points and 8 rebounds.

After Saturday's game, Dawson will next be in action in their home debut next Saturday afternoon.