Sports

Jacks get revenge on Bucs

By Tyler Ohmann

12/04/2012

The Dakota College at Bottineau men’s basketball team bounced back with a win this past week against MonDak foe Dawson Community College last Wednesday. The Jacks also dropped a close non-conference match against Minot Air Force Base on Saturday.

The split week left the Jacks at 4-5 overall on the season as the semester break draws near.

First on Wednesday the Jacks revenged an 81-74 loss on Nov. 15 against Dawson by beating the Buccaneers 89-78 in Glendive, Mont.

“The Lumberjacks showed a level of toughness last night by defeating NJCAA D1 Dawson Community College in Glendive 89-78,” stated Jacks head coach Cory Fehringer. “Basketball is a game of simply making more baskets at times, and the Jacks did not seem to have difficulty scoring as they successfully completed 54 percent of their attempts.”

The Jacks also hit 27-of-31 free throws to help propel them past the MonDak rival.

Despite the strong win, Fehringer knows the Jacks still have much to work on.

“Clearly a win is a win, but it did not come without areas of concern. Establishing a presence on the defensive glass continues to hurt our team defense as it makes it nearly impossible to hold teams to a low total,” Fehringer stated. “Overall our defense did not do a poor job because we played faster, harder and unselfish for the majority of the game but we must develop a successful strategy to limit second possessions for the opposing team.”

Invidually the Jacks were led by another strong performance from sophomore Jayden McMillin who had 29 points and eight rebounds.

Freshman guards Billy Engel (21 points, eight rebounds, six assists) and Kristoff Walker  (12 points, six assists) also did well. Sophomore Colby Boyes also contributed 13 points.

“From top to bottom the coaching staff felt this was our best team effort without a doubt up to this point,” Fehringer stated.

Following Wednesday’s win the Jacks hoped to continue to win against Minot Air Force Base (MFAB) on Saturday.

However, after taking a 14-point halftime lead the Jacks let MAFB back in the game and they forced overtime. There MFAB outscored the Jacks 15-12 and pulled off a 92-89 win.

Four MFAB players were in double figures in the win and they out rebounded the Jacks 51-35.
Leading the Jacks were Walker (28 points, six assists), Billy Engel (16 points, seven rebounds, seven assists) and Ben Veith (16 points, eight rebounds and five assists).

The Jacks close out their semester with a two games at the Lane Johnson Classic in Bismarck this Friday and Saturday.

Their next home game is at 8 p.m. , on Jan. 21 against North Dakota State College of Science.