NDSCS downs Dawson on the Road

On Thursday night NDSCS men's basketball picked up a hard fought road win over Dawson Community College in Glendive, MT.

In a game with 16 lead changes and seven ties the Wildcats found themselves down eight with six minutes remaining. They battled foul trouble all night and a poor shooting second half found them trailing late. Key defensive plays, resiliency, and some clutch shooting down the stretch would propel the Wildcats to victory.

Ismail Soumare (Fr.), Colombes, France, sparked a run for NDSCS as he converted three free throws and followed up a miss to cut the Dawson lead to four. Melvin Newbern Jr. made good on his chances from the charity stripe and the score was knotted at 67 with four minutes to play.

Trailing 67-71, Sam Baker found Marquis Holloman in the corner for three to cut the lead back down to one. Dawson responded with a basket on the other end but the Wildcats showed resiliency on the on the glass. No one more than Newbern who cleaned up his own miss and finished inside to bring the score to 72-73 with 1:07 remaining.

Newbern would convert on two free throws after a defensive stop to put NDSCS ahead and Sam Baker added three more free throws to extend the lead to 5.

The play of the game came from Soumare, who with 8 seconds on the clock drew a charge and allowed the Wildcats to salt the game away at the foul line.

Melvin Newbern Jr. had another big night scoring 22 points and led all players with 11 rebounds. Ismail Soumare contributed five points, four rebounds, and two steals off the bench and Sam Baker made 9/10 free throws to help the Wildcats secure the 81-74 victory.

With the win, NDSCS moves to 14-4 (2-0) on the season. They host Bismarck State College on Monday, January 15^th with tip set for 7:30 PM.