Former Buccaneers Moving on to Play at the Four Year Level
After a 24-9 season and a trio of championships in the Tip-Off Tournament, Mon-Dak Conference Regular Season and the Region XIII Tournament, many of the Buccaneer Sophomores will be moving on to the four year level.
"We had a great group of sophomores this season," said Dawson Coach Joe Peterson. "It is always sad to see them go, but exciting to see them moving on to continue their education and to continue playing basketball. It will be fun to follow them and watch them play. Our hope is that they make a positive impact on and off the court at their new college and take what they learned here and put it into practice there."
Hometown hero Michael Murphy will be going the furthest away. He signed at St Thomas University in Miami, Florida. Murphy played just one season at Dawson, averaging 5.5 points and 2.2 rebounds a game while shooting 44% from the field and 39% from the three-point line.
Most of the others are staying either in Montana or pretty close by.
Brandon Hymes has signed to play for the University of Jamestown Jimmies. Hymes was Dawson's leading scorer this year at 13.1 points per game. He also averaged 4.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.1 steals while shooting 49% from the field and 40% from the three point line. Hymes was named all-conference and all-region.
Ade Onaleye will also be in North Dakota. He signed with the Dickinson State Blue Hawks of the Frontier Conference. Onaleye will play for Glendive native Derek Selvig who is the Blue Hawks Head Coach. Several other Dawson players have found success in Dickinson recently, Kose Egbule, Aiden Fishell and Cordell Steward were all all-conference players for them in recent years. Onaleye averaged 8.7 points and 3.6 rebounds a game while shooting 44% from the field.
Zakai Owens spent his freshman year at Dawson this past season averaging 6.1 points and a team leading 4.9 rebounds a game. He shot 54.5% from the field. He will be returning home to Billings to play with his brother Rhyse next season for MSU-Billings.
Crowd favorite, Delray Lilley, has signed to play for MSU Northern in Havre. Lilley is a Poplar native who Dawson fans grew to love because of his hustle, lock-down defense and great team play. He averaged 5.4 points, 2.7 rebounds while shooting 43% from the field, 38% from the three point line and 86% from the free throw line.
Newly hired Michael Claxton is bringing two Buccaneers to play for him at the University of Providence in Great Falls. Troy Hugs and Kuich Gatwech have signed with the Argos. Hugs and Claxton won a Class AA State Championship together at Gallatin High School in 2024. Gatwech is from Melbourne, Australia and only played his sophomore year at Dawson, averaging 6 points and 4 rebounds a game. In conference he shot 50% from the field and 41% from the three point line.
Louisiana natives, Matt Kinzeler and Aries Lewis, have also chosen to stay in Montana and will be teammates at the University of Montana-Western in Dillon. Kinzeler is a sharp-shooter who averaged 9.3 points while making 57 threes on the season and shooting 85% from the free throw line. Lewis is an athletic, rim protecting, lob threat. He averaged 8.9 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots a game. He shot 50% from the field this season.
Along with the seven Buccaneers from this class joining the Frontier Conference, there is another former Buccaneer who is returning to the state. 6'6 forward from Australia, Justin Asi, is transferring from Ferris State to Montana Tech University.
Peterson continued, "It's gonna be fun for Buccaneer fans to be able to follow all of these guys throughout Montana and North Dakota next year. It is always their choice of where they want to go and what offers they accept, but I enjoy it when they don't go too far away. It makes it easier to watch them in person, follow up with them and interact with them."
