DILLON, Mont. - The Montana Western Bulldog Men's Basketball team won their home opener this evening with a 61-60 win over the Dickinson State Blue Hawks. The Bulldogs move to 3-2 on the season with another home matchup tomorrow evening against Eastern Oregon University.
"Happy we found a way to win. We have got to just keep getting better and we will keep giving ourselves chances to win." Head Coach
Mike Larsen stated after the game.
How it Happened
The Bulldogs had a slow start as they allowed the Blue Hawks to go on an 8-0 scoring run to start the game. A pair of free throws made by
Jamal Stephenson broke the run and helped kickstart the Bulldog offense. A dunk by
Jok Jok that drew a foul with 10:19 left in the first half brought the score within one. The Bulldogs were then able to take their first lead of the game at 21-20 behind a three-pointer made by
Michael Haverfield with 6:29 left in the first half. The Bulldogs would finish up the first half up 33-31 on the Blue Hawks. Jok led the Bulldogs at the half with eight points and three rebounds. The Bulldogs also had a shooting percentage at the half of 42.3 percent from the field, compared to the DSU 40.7 percent.
The Blue Hawks started the second half by going up on the Bulldogs by two. The momentum quickly shifted though as
Brenton Woods made a layup that pushed the offense to go on a 9-0 scoring run. DSU brought the score back within two points at after back to back three-pointers with 6:40 left in the game. The Blue Hawks would take the lead at 53-52 with 4:15 left in the game after a foul at the three-point line led to three straight made free throws. After battling it out back and forth for the remainder of the game, Woods hit a three-pointer that gave the Bulldogs the lead at 61-57 with just under a minute left. Despite allowing the Blue Hawks to score three more points, the Bulldogs were able to hang onto the lead to win the game 61-60.
Notables
- The Bulldogs win their season home opener behind a team shooting percentage of 44.0. They also shot 37.5 percent from the three-point line.
- The Bulldogs were able to keep their turnovers to a single digit, picking up just seven in the game. They also forced 15 DSU turnovers in the game.
- Woods led the Bulldogs in scoring in the game with 17 points. He also added two assists and two rebounds.
- Jok followed just behind with 15 points in the game on a 55.5 percent shooting percentage and added six rebounds to the team total of 23.
- Stephenson added 10 points and two rebounds.
Up Next
The Bulldogs return to their home court tomorrow for the final game of the Western Classic. They will face off with Eastern Oregon University at 5PM MST.
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