Dawson Wins at United Tribes
The Dawson Buccaneers picked up their 21st win of the season on Thursday night with a 99-82 win on the road against the United Tribes Technical College Thunderbirds. Dawson held a narrow 42-39 halftime lead, but blew the game open with a 18-3 run to open the second half. The Buccaneers move to 21-8 on the season and 9-2 in conference play. Their last game of the regular season will be at home on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 pm vs. Dakota College at Bottineau. With a win, the Buccaneers will clinch at least a share of the Mon-Dak Conference Championship. North Dakota State College of Science is also 9-2 and will close out the regular season at Williston on Monday night.
"We had some lapses at the end of the first half and a few times later in the second half, but I loved how we came out of half-time and really locked down defensively, getting six straight stops to take a double digit lead," explained Dawson Coach Joe Peterson. "I thought our bench gave us a big lift in the first half and then our starters played better in the second half. United Tribes played zone for the whole game and it has been a while since we've faced a standard 2-3 zone, but as the game wore on we adjusted well and started attacking it better."
In the first half, Dawson led most of the way and looked like they were ready to blow it open when they got up by 10 with a little over three minutes remaining, but the Thunderbirds came storming back to outscore the Bucs by seven, including a steal and layup at the buzzer to cut the deficit to three points. UTTC shot over 50% from the field and 40% from the three point line while taking good care of the ball (only four turnovers). Dawson's bench scored 28 points in the opening twenty minutes, led by Michael Murphy's 10 points and Mikey Ngoyi's 9 points.
Dawson opened up an early double digit lead in the second half and got up by as many as 26 points with five minutes remaining. They forced 12 turnovers and made 7 three-pointers in the second half while getting to the free throw line 25 times. Dawson scored 57 points after half-time and held the Thunderbirds to 43.
Dawson's bench scored 56 of their 99 points in the game. The Buccaneers earned 37 free throws total, making 25. They also made 12 three's. It was a balanced attack with 11 guys scoring and 8 guys scoring at least 7 points.
Michael Murphy led the way with 17 points, including 3-5 from the three point line. Mikey Ngoyi had 16 points, going 3-6 from the three-point line. Delray Lilley had 13 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Kai Guess rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points.
