The Dawson Community College basketball team dropped another close one Friday night, losing 105-100 on the road at Gillette College. They dug themselves a hole in the second half getting down by 15 points with 12:41 remaining, but they stayed within striking distance for most of the night. They finally made their run with about four minutes to go in the game. Spearheaded by the scoring of Marcus Stephens, the young Bucs pulled within two points of the perennial powerhouse from Gillette. Every time in the last minute when Dawson would make it a one possession game, Gillette would keep them at bay by making free throws.
Two costly lane violations took away two points from Dawson on the free throw line in the closing minutes and another turnover made it challenging to complete the comeback. The Pronghorns had a big advantage on the line, converting 20-25 free throws in the second half and 31-41 for the game, Dawson only shot 24 free throws in the game and made 75% of those. The other big advantage came in forcing turnovers where Gillette led 23-11 and they scored 29 points off those turnovers. Even though Dawson won the battle of the boards 42-36, Gillette converted 18 second chance points to the Dawson’s 8. There were a lot of positives for the Bucs. DCC shot 52% from the field, 46% from the three-point line and 75% from the free throw line. It was their best shooting night of the young season. They also scored 72 points off the bench compared to Gillette’s 22.
In the first half, it looked like Dawson might take control when they built a 7 point lead just seven minutes into the game due in large part to good three-point shooting. Gillette turned up the pressure though and began forcing turnovers and converting them on the other end. The home team converted 14 turnovers into 22 points in the opening half to go into the locker room up by twelve points at 57-45. Dawson kept fighting and outscored Gillette 55-48 in the second half, but in the end they couldn’t finish the comeback.
The Buccaneers had 4 players in double figures and were led in scoring by Marcus Stephens with 21 points and 5 rebounds. Man Man Baker chipped in 15 points and 6 assists while CJ Nelson had 14 points. Beau Santistevan had a solid contribution with 13 points and 5 rebounds.
Gillette’s leading scorer was Kaileb Walton-Blanden with 24 points to go along with 6 assists. Javon Westcarth had a workmanlike 22 points and 10 rebounds and Akhile Bradley had 21 points on efficient 4-6 shooting from behind the 3 point line. Dreshawn Allen and Mason Archambault rounded out the Gillette players in double figures scoring 20 points and 17 points respectively.
Dawson will have a quick turnaround as they face off with Colorado Northwestern at 1:00 pm Saturday in the Pronghorn Classic.