Dawson Captures another Region XIII Title
The Dawson Buccaneers went on the road and survived a couple of last second attempts to escape with a hard fought 67-66 win in the Region XIII Championship Game at North Dakota State College of Science. They've won two in a row and five of the last seven. The Wildcats and the Buccaneers shared the regular season Mon-Dak Conference Championship, but NDSCS got the right to host the championship based on tie-breaking procedures. With the win, Dawson will advance to the North Central District Championship Game in Ottumwa, Iowa on Saturday night against Indian Hills Community College.
"Our guys hung tough once again," said Dawson Coach Joe Peterson. "We didn't play our best tonight, but we did what we needed to. We are battle tested from a tough non-conference schedule and have played in a lot of these kinds of games this year. Winning on the road is always tough, but especially in the post-season. They are a really talented team with a lot of weapons. We stayed positive all night, kept believing and did it together."
The first half was tight. Even though Dawson kept the lead most of the way, the Wildcats stayed within striking distance. The Buccaneers biggest lead was at 20-14. Dawson should've put the home team away by shooting 57% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line while holding NDSCS to 36% from the field and 23% from the 3-point line and forcing 10 turnovers in the half, but the Wildcats stayed in the game with 9 offensive rebounds and 10 second chance points. Dawson closed out the final minute of the first half with two free throws from Brandon Hymes, followed by a great defensive stand to force a shot clock violation when Aries Lewis blocked one three-point attempt and then forced a pump fake on another one as the shot clock buzzer sounded. On their last possession, Hymes turned it over, but Cham Okey's three-point attempt bounced out, foreshadowing what was to come at the end of the game. The Bucs had a 37-32 advantage heading into the break .
The second half brought about 8 lead changes and 5 ties. Neither team was able to pull away. NDSCS was up 56-54 with 6:17 remaining when Matt Kinzeler drew an offensive foul to get the ball back for Dawson. Then Kinzeler tied it up on a drive to the hoop on the next possession. John Angau answered for NDSCS. On Dawson's next possession Mikey Ngoyi made two free throws to knot it up at 58. Ade Onaleye gave Dawson the lead with a mid-range turnaround shot in the post. The Wildcats responded with a three-pointer before Aries Lewis scored inside again for the Bucs to make it 62-61. NDSCS regained the lead briefly before Onaleye scored on another drive. There wasn't much scoring after that. Hymes made a free throw. The only other score for Dawson came with just under a minute left. Kinzeler missed a three-pointer and Hymes collected the rebound and put it in for a 67-63 advantage. NDSCS made a free throw and a lay-up to pull within a point with 30 seconds left. Hymes missed on the other end which set the stage for the dramatic ending. The Wildcats had two good looks from three-point range in the final ten seconds, but missed them both. It was a fitting end as Dawson limited NDSCS to 22.6% (7-31) shooting from beyond the arc for the game. They only made 3-14 in the second half. For the game Dawson held the hosts to 40% from the field and forced 16 turnovers. NDSCS outscored Dawson 34-30 in the second half, but it wasn't enough.
The Bucs biggest advantage came at the free throw line where they outscored the home team 22-11. Dawson made 22-27 (81.5%). They also held the Wildcat's leading scorer, Cham Okey, to 4-14 shooting from the field and 0-7 from the three point line. He scored 11 points which is 10 below his season average.
Despite being in foul trouble all night, NDSCS's Jikany Deang finished with 16 points in 20 minutes. Hymes had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals to lead Dawson. Lewis finished with 14 points. Onaleye had 11 points and Sharif Yakubu scored 10 points on a perfect 4-4 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line.
It was the 7th time in the past 11 years that these two teams have met in the Region Championship with Dawson winning three of those match-ups, including two at NDSCS. The win improves Dawson to 24-8 on the season. The winner of the North Central District Championship Game on Saturday will receive an automatic bid to the NJCAA D1 National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.
