Sports

Three more wins extend streak to six

By Tyler Ohmann

11/26/2013

The Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) men went 3-for-3 in games this past week and extended their winning streak to six games.

The Jacks played all three wins at home as they treated the home crowd to blowout wins over Concordia JV, Northland Community and Technical College (NCTC) and Trinity Bible College.

First on Tuesday DCB took down the visiting Cobbers JV team in convincing fashion 95-62.

The Jacks scored 56 first-half points to go up by 26 at the break. This helped lead them to a 33-point win.

“Ultimately we played an aggressive first half on both ends of the floor allowing us to separate early and never looking back,” stated Jacks head coach Cory Fehringer.

Leading the charge for the Jacks was freshman Travis Frye, who had 17 points and four assists off the bench.

Also strong in the game was sophomore Julian Vasquez who had 15 points, seven boards, five assists and three steals.

He gives a lot of credit for the Jacks’ success to his coach.

“It’s a great feeling, and this is Cory’s second year and seeing what he’s capable of doing when he gets his own group of guys is beyond good,” Vasquez said. “We don’t know where we can go, because like we say there is no ceiling for us.”

Wesley Harrison added 11 points and Patrick Robinson had his best game as a Jack with 10 points in 14 minutes off the bench.

DCB shot an impressive 44.4 percent from beyond the arc and a strong 53.1 percent overall. They held the Cobbers to 32.4 percent shooting from the field.

The Jacks’ momentum carried over to Friday night’s opener of the first Cobblestone Classic as DCB tore past the NCTC Pioneers 92-52.

This time DCB came a little slow out of the gate, but a suffocating defense held NCTC to 23 first half points and a 13-point lead at the break.

The Jacks’ offense exploded for 56 points in the second half and DCB went on to post their biggest margin of victory this season with a 40-point win.

“I think last night you saw right where we want to be,” Fehringer said following Saturday’s game. “The last two games we’ve held teams to under 30 percent and we’ve shot about 50 percent from the field, our pressure on defense is creating turnovers and guys are playing together.”

The Jacks again shot better than 40 percent from long range and shot 53.3 percent from the field in the win over the Pioneers.

Production came from several places as four Jacks scored in double figures led by freshman Xavier Cruz, who had 22 points and hit four threes.

He was named the MonDak Player of the Week for his efforts last week.

Also strong was guard Jalyn Turner, who had 16 points and played 29 minutes in the game for the Jacks. Sophomores Billy Engel and Vasquez each had 11 points, and four and three steals respectively.
Vasquez said that the Jacks are like a family and that he and Engel are right at the head of it.

“It’s beautiful, me and Billy (Engel) are like the mom and dad of the group,” Vasquez said. “We pretty much take care of the guys whatever their questions are, and we do have our bickering and fighting, but that comes with every team.”

“We’re one big happy family, me and Billy (Engel) are like the mom and dad and coach Cory (Fehringer) is like grandpa, and coach Dano (Fagerlund) is like grandpa too,” Vasquez added.

DCB’s bench had another strong game as the Jacks took care of Trinity Bible College in their second Cobblestone Classic game 101-81 on Saturday.

The Jacks received 69 points from their bench, and Fehringer admits it is a key tool to their 9-1 start.

“We continue to use our bench as a tool for us,” Fehringer said. “Are we satisfied, not by any means, but are we pleased, yes. Especially from the team aspect and the ability for guys to come out and play again and again.”

“We’re gaining a little bit of confidence game by game,” Fehringer added.

Vasquez, who came off the bench, scored 23 points, grabbed eight boards, dished out six assists and had four steals in the win. He said what Fehringer asks them to do is quite simple.

“It’s pretty simple, and there are a couple of things that he wants to do, and one is that no one is bigger than the team,” Vasquez said. “Everybody has a job that needs to be done, collectively we have one job to get done and all together we’ll get the job done.”

Also strong off the bench were Cruz (17 points) and Frye (13 points, eight rebounds). Harrison was the lone starter in double figures with 12 points.

DCB out shot the Lions 55.1 percent to 33.3 percent in the win.
The game was fairly close throughout until the Jacks closed the game out strong. One reason was a 46-41 advantage for the Lions. It is something that Vasquez said the Jacks need to work on.

“I believe the heart is there, but we just have to stay together as a group, as one,” Vasquez said. “We’ve got to work on our rebounding, a couple times we allow too many offensive rebounds, but that will come with time.”

“We just have to work on rebounding and closing out games,” Vasquez added.

The Jacks take the court at home once again at 8 p.m. tonight as they host Turtle Mountain Community College.

They’ll also travel to Sheridan, Wyo. to take part in the Sheridan Classic. There they’ll play some tough competition.