Sports

Lumberjacks fall in District VII title game

By Matthew Semisch

03/10/2015

Dakota College at Bottineau’s (DCB) men’s basketball team saw its 2014-15 season end in heartbreaking fashion on Sunday.

The Lumberjacks hosted Southeast (Neb.) Community College in the NJCAA District VII title game. The winner of that tilt would lock up a berth in next week’s NJCAA Division II national tournament in Danville, Ill.

In the end, that berth wasn’t the Jacks’ to grab. Instead, Southeast returned to Beatrice, Neb., with a 72-69 win over DCB and a District VII title in tow.

With the distirct championship game loss to Southeast, the Lumberjacks closed their season with an 18-16 record.

Southeast started Sunday’s game strongest. DCB found itself down 9-2 in the game’s opening minutes, and the Storm continued at pace until it went into halftime with a 47-33 lead.

The Jacks recovered well early in the second half and held a 57-55 lead at one point following a three-pointer from DCB guard Louis Williams. Southeast pulled back into the lead from there, however, and held on to leave the Woodshed with a three-point victory and a ticket to Danville punched.

Jacks sophomore forward Keouvion McCalop finished Sunday’s game with a game-high 26 points to go along with 12 rebounds and three blocks. Williams also played a key role in posting 18 points and eight boards.

That wasn’t enough, however, and an up-and-down season for DCB came to an end. The Jacks had recently earned their second consecutive NJCAA Region XIII title, but they couldn’t parlay it into a district title.

Even still, though, DCB head coach Brandon Colvin was pleased with his team’s effort in the postseason.

“We’ve run the gamut of everything a team can deal with in a season: Injuries, guys not playing as well as they could, guys not playing together as a team, arguing with each other, but we got through it,” he said. 

“I told the guys that the last couple of weeks have probably been the most fun I’ve had coaching a team because our guys came out and showed their potential.”

DCB loses nine sophomores: McCalop, Patrick Robinson, Julian Short, Kristoff Walker, Gilbert Carter, Shaquille Carlyle, Darion Hancock, Jalyn Turner and Devonse Reed.