Sports

Jacks impress with depth, scoring

By Tyler Ohmann

11/05/2013

A 122-72 over Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) and a 117-87 victory over the University of Winnipeg kick started the Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) men’s basketball season last weekend.

The pair of victories for the Jacks came in the annual Kevin Thom Classic, which Bottineau hosts in honor of the two year player, who died tragically in a car crash.

The Jacks started the weekend with the 50-point drubbing of the Blazers on Friday night, which featured some exciting moments for DCB.

The Jacks, who led 61-42 at halftime, had several high-flying dunks from many different players, including alley-oops, which really brought the crowd into the game.

DCB’s defense buckled down in the second half and held the Blazers to 30 points in the second half, despite a fast pace.
The Jacks shot 49-of-94 on the day for a 52.1 percent clip, and forced 23 turnovers.

They were led by Travis Frye, who came off the bench to score 28 points on 10-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-5 from three point range. Frye also added nine rebounds and five assists.

Xavier Cruz also played well off the bench, as he dropped in 20 points, and also added six boards, four assists and three steals. Other strong performances off the bench included Justin Musgrave (16 points) and Jalyn Turner (12 points).

Starting guard Billy Engel, a sophomore, said it is great to have such a deep bench.

“Yesterday coach was pissed with our first five, and brought in our second five and we went on a big run,” Engel said. “It is great to have a second five that’s as good as your first five.”

“It’s great to have in practice too, because we’re getting pushed everyday too,” Engel added.

Engel, who finished with six points and two assists in the win, said that he and fellow sophomore Julian Vasquez are looked upon as leaders.

“I was here last year, and Julian (Vasquez) was here last year, so we need to be leaders and carry everyone along with us,” Engel said. “As far as roles on the court, we’re all on the same page and Cory (Fehringer) has done a great job with that.”

“We all have the same goal, and that’s to win games,” Engel added.
Vasquez was the top performer out of the starters, as he had 15 points, six rebounds and five steals.

Rebounding was another key stat for the Jacks, as they cleaned glass 58 times to CMU’s 33.

The Jacks put up another big scoring effort on Saturday night as they breezed by the University of Winnipeg Wesman 117-87.

Efficiency was the word of the night as DCB shot an impressive 64.6 percent from the field including 66.7 percent from beyond the arc.

The Jacks started quick, getting out to an early lead and holding a 55-42 lead at the break. DCB never let their foot off the petal, and received scoring from a variety of sources.

Four of five starters and two bench players were in double digits in scoring for the game.

They were led by Vasquez, who had 15 points and five rebounds. Freshman Kolbi Selby added 14 on 4-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc, and Gilberto Shojgreen had 13 points and six rebounds.
Other double digit scorers were Engel (13 points), Turner (11 points) and Cruz, who had 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists off the bench.

For now, the Jacks are celebrating, but Engel knows the shine of the wins won’t last long as they will have plenty of tougher games ahead.

“It was our first two games, so we have a lot of work to do,” Engel said. “We have a lot better opponents coming up, so we still have a lot to do.”

The Jacks will take part in the Lake Region Classic this Friday and Saturday in Devils Lake.