by On Saturday, The Dawson Buccaneers picked up where they left off in the second half of Wednesday’s game, racing out to a twenty point half-time lead by forcing 10 turnovers and scoring 14 points off those turnovers. The Bucs had two big first half runs. Down two points with 13:22 remaining in the first half, they went on a 12-0 run, fueled by a lay-up by Jalen Tot, a 3-pointer by Reggie Martin, another Martin basket and then another from Jalen Tot. Riley Spoonhunter (MHA/Blackfeet) capped the run with a 3-pointer. Then again with three minutes left, they went on a 13-2 run. Jalen Tot and Reggie Martin scored four points each during the run and Charles Lampten scored inside and Riley Spoonhunter scored from outside to give Dawson a 52-30 lead with seconds remaining in the half.
After leading 52-32 at the break, Dawson played even in the second half with the visiting Mystics from Bismarck State and moved to 2-0 on the young season with a 102-82 victory at home. The lead hovered around 20 points for most of the second half. The closest the visitors got was a 15 point deficit with eight minutes remaining, but seven straight points from Kose Egbule and another bucket from Spoonhunter put Dawson back up comfortably by 24 points four minutes later.
Dawson’s bench outscored Bismarck 51-24. Both teams shot 46% from the field and both teams finished 18-27 from the free throw line. Dawson forced 22 turnovers and converted that into 24 points while only committing 11 turnovers themselves.
Coach Joe Peterson commented, “It was a good team effort tonight, especially in the first half, but I thought our defensive intensity died a little in the second half when we had a big lead. We are still young and are learning to play hard for 40 minutes. If we can do that, we have a chance of becoming a good team.”
Reggie Martin led four players in double figures with 17, followed by Riley Spoonhunter’s 17. Jalen Tot added 13 and Charles Lampten contributed 11 for the victors.
Dawson hits the road this week for a game at United Tribes Technical College on Tuesday night and at Lake Region State College on Wednesday night before returning home Sunday for a match-up with North Dakota State College of Science.
