Sports
DCB impresses at Kevin Thom Classic
Tyler Ohmann
11/08/2011
The Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks had an impressive opening to their season this past weekend as they hosted the annual Kevin Thom Classic.
The Jacks won both of their matches by decisive margins beating Canadian Mennonite University 103-81 on Friday and the Winnipeg Jr. Wesman 97-78 on Saturday.
“It was fun,” sophomore center James Odneal said about the opening weekend. “We got out there, and I’m happy with our success to start the season.”
The Pontiac, Mich. native played a big role in the two wins for the Jacks as well.
Odneal had double-doubles in both contests scoring 13 points and grabbing 15 rebounds on Friday, and 21 points, 10 rebounds on Saturday.
“I’m playing my part, and I just need to step up,” Odneal said. “I’m getting better and better every day, and I want this to be my turn.”
He was the team’s leading rebounder on Friday and the leading scorer Saturday.
“Im excited, and I’m going to try and do my thing,” Odneal said. “I am doing everything with my grades, and on the court, I’m going to leave it on the court.”
In Friday’s win the Jacks struggled a bit in the first half coming away with only a six-point lead heading into half time.
In the second half they jumped out to a big lead early, and outscored the Blazers by 16 to take a 22-point win.
“The first true game always seems to be lacking consistency in flow,” said Jacks Head Coach Ken Keysor. “There are three main ways to get into offensive rhythm, the first is good defense, second is transition and lastly but most importantly is execution. We were average at best in all three areas. We had moments where we looked like a finely tuned team and other times when it looked like we were a pee wee team.”
The Jacks out shot the Blazers 55.4 percent to 41.9 percent, and DCB was 38.1 percent on three-pointers.
A big boost in the trey department came from sophomore transfer Cameron Malzer, who was also the Jacks leading scorer in the contest with 22.
Freshman Jayden McMillin from Melbourne, Australia had 21 points. Sophomore Josh Vedaa led the Jacks with eight assists; he had five points as well.
Sophomore Jeremy Chambers had 13 points, and freshman Levi Tomlinson and Colby Boyes each had 10 points in the win.
“It will take several games to get the systems and rotations down, but for a first game it was adequate,” Keysor said.
The Jacks used the momentum from their first game to break open a big lead on Saturday in game two against the Winnipeg Jr. Wesman.
DCB scored 52 first-half points to take a 14-point lead into half time.
They added 45 more in the second half and shot over 50 percent from the field and 45 percent from beyond the arc to nab a 97-78 win over the Wesman.
Though the Jacks were successful, Keysor is still a bit tenative about their performance.
“Our shot selection was decent, however, one major concern was our transition defense,” Keysor said. “We gave up way too many open looks at the basket because we didn’t sprint back on defense.”
Four players scored in double-digits in the game for the Jacks: Odneal had 21, Malzer 21, McMillin had 18 and Tomlinson 10. McMillin also led the Jacks with 15 rebounds and five assists. The balanced scoring was a positive Keysor took away from the game.
“Another bright spot is that we have very balanced scoring and we love to share the ball,” Keysor said. “At the end of the day our hope is that we will grow and mature as the season progresses.”
Odneal also provided some excitement for the Jacks with a couple big blocks and some big dunks in transition.
The plays riled up a fervor with the fans in the stands, which Odneal says is important.
“It is a big help, we need everyone to come out and support us,” Odneal said. “Thats what we need, and we need to stay focused and we can win every game that we want to.”
Following the win an excited Odneal made a big statement about the team’s future.
“We’re going to be good,” Odneal said. “I think we can win it all.”
His coach agrees about the teams’ potential this season.
“We have the potential of becoming a very good team, and we hope to get better each day,” Keysor said.
The Jacks will travel to Williston next weekend to take part in the MonDak Preconference tournament on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Times are to be announced.