Dawson holds off United Tribes

Seven Buccaneers scored in double figures as Dawson held on to beat United Tribes Technical College 92-82 in Bismarck on Monday night. 

The first half saw 10 ties and 15 lead changes as the two teams fought back and forth.  The Thunderbirds rode the hot shooting of Jayce Archambault (3-6 on 3's) and Jordan Lebeau (3-4 on 3's) through the opening twenty minutes.  The Buccaneers took the lead with 14 seconds left on free throws from Joe Mpoyo to take a narrow 50-49 advantage going into half-time.

At the start of the second half, United Tribes went cold for four minutes as Dawson went on an 11-0 run to expand their lead.  Dawson eventually built a 74-58 lead before United Tribes went on a 20-4 run, fueled by the hot shooting of Lebeau who connected from 25 feet to tie it up at 78 with under five minutes to go.  Reggie Martin answered with a couple of free throws for Dawson.  United Tribes tied it up again at 80 with 4:06 remaining on a Trisitn Davis layup.  The Thunderbirds had several clean looks the last 4 minutes, but managed to shoot only 1-6 down the stretch.  Tribes shot 13-32 from the 3 point line and Dawson only went 3-23, but the Bucs shot 25-34 from the free throw line compared to 7-9 for the Thunderbirds.   United Tribes turned the ball over 21 times.   

Lebeau and Sylvester Union each had 17 points to lead the scoring for United Tribes.  Union also finished with 5 rebounds and 4 assists.  Archambault finished with 13 points and Davis added 12.  Famous Lefthand hauled in 10 rebounds for the Thunderbirds.

The Thunderbirds will get a few days off and return to action Sunday afternoon at 3:00 pm in Devils Lake against Lake Region State College.