14-3 at Break

Trap games, "games that are on the schedule that have hidden dangers". Playing NHSC on Thursday falls into this category, the last game before the semester ends is always tough. Guys looking forward to go home and see their families for the first time in for some 4 months.

We came out this game a bit tight, not ready to play at the level we are capable or expected to. The biggest lead in the first half was 53-43, however the halftime lead was only seven at 61-54. Both teams shot the ball well in the first half, NHSC shot 54% and hit 12 free-throws while the Jacks shot 50%, including 8-20 from three, and only five free-throws.

In the second half it was back and forth scoring wise a good portion of the beginning of the half. Over the first 5:12 of the second half, the Storm would chip away at the halftime deficit before am Orie Brown three pointer tied the game at 75. However the tie was very short lived as the Jacks would proceed to turn up the heat and take over. They would go on a 17-5 run of their own, started by a Kenric Twine free-throw and finalized with a Louis Williams three point make. The score would be 92-78 with 10:21 remaining. The rest of the game the Jacks would slowly expand the lead until it was at a high of 24, 128-104 with 2:29 remaining. The final would be 130-108, the 7th time this year we have broke 120.

Leading the way was Brian Egejuru, playing his first game back from an ankle injury. He had 29 points, 24 in the second half. He also added five assists. JJ Morris scored 25, 20 in the first half on 9-15 shooting and 6-11 from three. Louis Williams added 19 off the bench but also was efficient elsewhere with seven assists and five rebounds. Wesley Harrison added 13 points, while Eric Elliott added 11 and seven rebounds. Malik Jones was once again solid with a double-double of 11 points and 11 assists.

As of now the Jacks lead the nation in scoring points per game at just over 106. We are now 14-3 on the year and will be off until we go to Canada on January 4th.

Jacks Gain 3 Wins but Play 2 Games

This past weekend the Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks traveled to Cass Lake, MN to take on Leech Lake Tribal College. They came away with a sweep, scoring 120 or more both games.  There was also a 3rd win gained, but this will be explained a bit later.

On Friday evening, the Jacks took a while to get going, about 28 minutes or so to be specific but in the end would pull away for the 120-87 win. The Lakers kept things close and very interesting for most the game, as the first half was back and forth with the Jack's leading for all but one possession but never by more than 10. There were a few times that the Lakers pulled within four and even took the lead for one possession, leading by 1 at 32-31. At the half it was DCB up 58-49.

In the second half DCB started to pull away but it was a slow pull. The lead again would never get higher than 12 for the first 8:00 of the half. Finally, the pressure picked up and the Lumberjacks were able to force turnover after turnover. They would go on to outscore the Lakers 62-38 in the second half, cruising to the win. 

Leading the way was Neal Hodges with a career high 21 points and seven rebounds. He led six Jacks in double figures. JJ Morris added 20 points, Kenric Twine earned the double-double with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Malik Jones added 17 as well, with Eric Elliott and Alex Majarin adding 12 and 10. 

"Leech Lake gave us all we could handle, but we responded in the end. It seemed to be a bit of bus lag, after the five hour drive to get to Cass Lake. Once we got going though we looked like our old energetic selves."

On Saturday it was round two, this time there was no doubt from the tip as the Jacks were up 20 by 12:00 in the first half, and led by 13 at halftime on the way to the 123-82 win. DCB came out with more energy from the tip, jumping to a 13-2 lead and never looking back. In the first half the game never got below double digits with DCB leading 60-47 at half.

In the second half it was much the same as the first game, except this time after the first score by Leech Lake the Dakota College defense took over, expanding the lead over the entire half. There was never any kind of sustained run made by the Lakers as the Jacks outscored them 63-35 in the second half.

Malik Jones led the way for the Jacks with 23 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. Wesley Harrison added 19 points and nine rebounds, while Louis Williams added 16 from the bench.

"Our energy was high from start to finish, it was great to put 40 minutes together."

The third win came courtesy of a forfeit from an earlier game. Sheridan College was made to forfeit their 102-92 win over us earlier in the year. With that plus the two wins we now stand 13-3 on the season.

Huge Steps Taken

We traveled to Sheridan, WY this past weekend for the 41st annual Lion's Club Classic. Besides the Jacks it included host Sheridan College, Region 9 powerhouse, Northwest College and our Mon-Dak brethren, Williston State College.

Even though we came thru with a split it was huge the way we did it. The boys showed some resolve and moxy all weekend. They battled thru adversity, runs, and being in a hostile environment.

On Friday evening it was the host school up first. This is a game where we had chances to steal one. In the first half our shooting was as icy as the roads, shooting 35% and being out scored 16-4 from the line. With those two stats you would think we would be down a few. However, we led 44-40 due to our extremely aggressive defense and high energy. We forced 17 first half turnovers and allowed only 1 total shot the first 3:00.

The 2nd half was back and forth for a good portion with neither side seeing more than an 8 point margin. With about 8 minutes to go we trailed 70-68, however it is a game of runs and the last run usually wins. Over about a minute and half stretch SC went for two lay ups and two threes to up the lead to 10. The Jacks kept fighting until the end, losing 102-92 and were given some high praises by not only this guy but also many General fans.

Game two saw the Jacks come out flat, going down 16-0 quickly and by as much as 22 (29-7) in the first half. However after a bit of clearing the air and looking to our bench for a spark we found a formula that worked. We started to speed up the game, and dirty it on the way to out scoring the Trappers 37-16 the rest of the half to pull to within 1, 45-44.

The 2nd half saw NWC lead most of it by 1 to 4 points. However the Jacks found a way to tie the game and to take a lead the last minute. After Joe Baker hit one of two from the stripe it was 94-92 with 4.5 seconds left. On the inbound the Northwest player went coast to coast getting fouled on the layup. He would air ball the first and miss the second on purpose without any drama to seal the win.

We are now 10-4 on the year, and picked up our biggest win the last two years over Northwest. I am proud of how this group responded to recent strife and came together as one unit for the weekend.

Jack's Race Past Lions

The Dakota College men’s basketball team scored 68 points in the first half, en route to a 19 point halftime lead and a 125-93 win over the gritty visitors from Trinity Bible College on Tuesday evening.  A total of seven Jacks scored in double figures. In the first half a 17-3 run to end the half gave DCB some breathing room at halftime. The Jacks were an outstanding 10-18 from three for the half and shot a season high 17 free-throws for one half. They also dominated the boards 39-19.

In the second half the teams traded baskets for the first five to six minutes before another run, this time 20-3 pushed the lead to beyond 20 points. DCB would cruise from this point on, settling on the 32 point win.

As a team they shot 46% from the field, including 20-37 from three (54%), and hit on 19 of 30 freebies. The battle on the boards was not close as the Lumberjacks exploded for 25 offensive boards on the way to winning the battle 67-42.  

Leading DCB in scoring was Philip Lee with 20 points, while also grabbing nine rebounds. Brian Egejuru added 19 points, as well as six assists. Eric Elliott had a double-double from the bench with 16 points and 12 rebounds, Wesley Harrison also added a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. JJ Morris and Joe Baker added 13 each, with Kenric Twine rounding out the double digit scoring with 10. Malik Jones led the way in assists with 9.

"I felt like we took a step forward in this game, our energy was high and the guys seemed to be having fun again playing. Hopefully it continues on this weekend."

Dakota College now heads to Sheridan, WY for a Thanksgiving Classic, playing at 8 pm MST on Friday evening and 2 pm MST on Saturday afternoon.

Surprising Split

This weekend we hosted the Cobblestone Classic including men's teams from DCB, Leech Lake, and from up north the University of Winnipeg and Red River College.

On Friday, we hosted Red River and jumped on them from the start, winning 138-59. We led 38-2 at the start and 71-17 at half on the way to the win. We played as a team the entire night, with all players 1-13 getting minutes and contributing. Overall for the game we shot 60% from the field and saw all guys who played score at least 3 points. We had an amazing 36 assists on 53 baskets, and forced 34 turnovers. We also dominated the boards 60-42. There were seven double digit scorers led by Brian Egejuru's 19.

Saturday was a different story and a different team. We hosted the University of Winnipeg and fell 90-84, despite jumping out early 32-14 and leading by 7 at the half. We didn't seem to have the same energy in this game or the same level of cohesiveness. Our assists were at 18, and did force 24 turnovers. However, those were the only bright spots. We were dominated rebounding wise 49-34, including giving up 12 offensive boards. As coach it falls to me to right this ship and find a way to get us back to Lumberjack Basketball which means playing together and for each other.

We are home on Tuesday when we host Trinity Bible College before heading to Wyoming for the Sheridan Thanksgiving Classic.

Triple Double, Defense Key 101-55 Win

The Jack's basketball team continued is defensive theme with a dominating performance at home vs the Cobbers of Concordia College in a 101-55 win on Monday evening. Malik Jones also had a first in many years for the Jack's with a triple-double.

We jumped out early on Concordia and never looked back, leading by 29 at half en route to the 55 point win. The team has completely bought in to our defense first philosophy. We are continuously forcing 20+ turnovers and starting to play hard together and stay together. The excitement and energy on the bench is truly refreshing.

Hopefully this all holds up going forward as we have a busy couple weeks. We will play host to the Cobblestone Classic this weekend at 8 pm on Friday and 6 pm on Saturday then will host Trinity Bible next Tuesday at 8 pm.

I look forward to seeing you all at the games.

Defense Keys Weekend Split

The Dakota College Men's Basketball Team traveled to Wahpeton on Friday and Saturday to participate in the Baymont Inn Classic at NDSCS.  They came away with a split defeating Anoka Ramsey and falling to Ellsworth CC.

On Friday, the Jacks used a run in the middle of the second half to come back from a 12 point deficit in a 91-86 win over Anoka Ramsey College (MN). DCB jumped out to a quick start, up 9-2 early before a run allowed the Golden Rams to take a brief two point lead. A quick 8-0 run would give the Jacks a 22-16 lead in the middle of the first half. This is when things started to get a bit hairy for them, ARC would proceed to outscore Dakota College by 12 the rest of the half, taking a 40-34 lead into halftime. For the first half neither team lit it up, with ARC shooting 42% and DCB 39%. The Golden Rams also held the advantage at the line 8-2.

In the second half it was back and forth to start, but a run by Anoka would give them their biggest lead of the game at 12, 67-55 with about 9:00 to go. This is when the DCB defense took over, as the pressure of full court man and the 1-2-2 press proved to be to much to handle, forcing 13 turnovers in the second half. The Jacks would win the second half 57-46. For the game, Brian Egejuru led with 20 points, while JJ Morris added 18, Eric Elliott 13 ,and  Philip Lee 10. Kenric Twine would have a solid game with nine points and a game high 10 rebounds. For the game the Jacks shot 44% from the field and hit 9-three point shots.

In game two on Saturday, it was Ellsworth CC (IA) that came calling. In this game it was Ellsworth who controlled the game early and held on throughout the half. There would only be two lead changes in the first half, with DCB's biggest lead being four. It was a 42-36 Panther advantage at the half. In the second half ECC hit the first three of the half for the game's biggest lead, 45-36. From this point the teams would be back and forth, with the Jack's forcing a number of ties and five lead changes. Defensively the team got back in but offensively it was a struggle again as countless "gimmes" were left off the board.

In the end the advantage at the charity stripe proved to be the difference, as ECC held a 22-6 advantage. For the game DCB shot 41% compared to 45% for ECC. The Jacks did hit 10 threes, and again forced 20+ turnovers with 22. Leading the way was Philip Lee with a career high 24 points on 9-12 shooting, including 4-6 from three. Morris added 17, with Egejuru adding 11 and seven assists.

On the season DCB is 6-2, and will host Concordia College JV at 8 pm on Monday.