Blue Hawks edge Jimmies

DICKINSON — Dickinson State and Jamestown College have seen plenty of each other.

The two former Dakota Athletic Conference rivals met earlier this month as the Jimmies churned out an 89-74 win on Dec. 8.

DSU didn’t want recreate the 15-point loss again and used a balanced offensive attack to win 61-56 over Jamestown on Saturday at Scott Gymnasium.

“We’ve been working on doing some things offensively and really slowing ourselves down,” DSU head coach Ty Orton said. “The guys really stepped up and did the little things.”

The Jimmies, however, didn’t leave the gym quietly. Jamestown’s Davon Thomas and Mark Hoge knocked down 3-pointers in the final minute to bring the team within three, 59-56. Hoge had a game-high 20 points, while Thomas finished with 10.

“We hit some 3’s late to kind of keep us around,” Jamestown head coach Justin Wieck said. “It’s tough, because we’ve been there when you are trying to protect the lead. They played a really good game. They made life tough on us guarding them and made life tough on us taking shots.”

After Hoge’s 3-pointer, Hansen stepped up to the free-throw line to knock down the final two points of the game.

Helping the Blue Hawks (6-7) in the win was a sharpshooting performance from 3-point range. DSU went 5 of 10 from the first half, but cooled down a little bit in the second half only going 3 of 7.

Johnie Sanders, a senior guard, lead the charge for DSU with 12 points. Out of the 11 players that set foot on the floor for DSU, 10 of them scored at least two or more points. Robbie Morey, James Hayden and Brock Boos each finished with nine points.

“Our team is so deep and that’s a really neat thing,” said Hayden, who is a senior guard. “There aren’t a lot of deep teams like us. Guys come in constantly whether it’s for two or three minutes. They give all they have. That’s what makes our team so special. Everybody can contribute.”

“It wasn’t one person going out there and shooting 30,” Orton added. “It was everybody doing their job.”

DSU took a six-point, 30-24, lead at halftime, but midway through the second half, the Jimmies started making a comeback. Jamestown (7-7) went on an 11-0 run cutting DSU’s lead down to four, 45-41. Jared Sutherland capitalized the run with a dunk.

Ryan Sullivan, a junior forward, scored his only two points to end the Jimmies run with a feed from junior Ty Ackelson at the 9-minute, 18-second mark.

“We’ve been up a couple games at halftime and in the second half we’ve played,” Hayden said. “One of our mentalities is to come out with the same or more intensity in the second half.”

Hayden, a senior guard, came off the bench to lead the Blue Hawks with seven points and six rebounds in the first half. Boos also came off the bench to post six points, while the starters combined for 12 of the team’s 30 first half points.

DSU shot 11 of 26 (42 percent) from the floor in the first half, while Jamestown went 9 of 24 (38 percent). The numbers changed slightly at the end of the game with the Blue Hawks shooting 45 percent and the Jimmies with 41 percent.

“They shot 45 percent and I felt like they did what everything they wanted to do on the offensive end,” Wieck said. “We’ve been a pretty good defensive team all year, but if we’re not cranked up it’s going to be tough for us every night. I was begging and pleading to try to get them going. We had some good moments, but overall I was disappointed with our defensive effort.”

The Jimmies get some time off around the holidays before heading south for back-to-back games against Arizona Christian Dec. 30-31.

JC (7-7): Dan Janu 1-3 0-0 2, Andre Maund 2-3 2-3 6, Taylor Newton 1-1 0-0 3, Davon Thomas 4-10 1-2 10, Mark Hoge 6-16 5-5 20, Breshion Tucker 2-6 2-2 6, Aaron Stemen 1-2 0-0 3, Jared Sutherland 2-4 0-0 4, Beny Collins 0-0 2-2 2, Jesse Behm 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 19-46 10-11 56.

DSU (6-7): Johnie Sanders 3-11 4-4 12, Phillip Johnson Jr. 1-3 0-0 2, Ty Ackelson 0-0 0-0 0, Robbie Morey 3-9 2-2 9, John Hanstad 3-6 0-0 7, Anthony Hodges 2-3 0-0 4, Ryan Sullivan 1-2 0-0 2, James Hayden 4-4 1-1 9, Brock Boos 3-4 3-4 9, Isiah Thomas 1-1 0-0 2, Jarek Hansen 1-6 2-2 5. Totals: 22-49 9-9 61.

Halftime: DSU 30-24. Total fouls: JC 13, DSU 13. 3-point goals: JC 8-19 (Maund 2-3, Newton 1-1, Thomas 1-3, Hoge 3-8, Tucker 0-1, Stemen 1-2, Sutherland 0-1), DSU 8-17 (Boos 3-4, Sanders 2-3, Hanstad 1-2, Morey 1-3, Hansen 1-4, Hodges 0-1). Rebounds: JC 25 (three tied with four), DSU 29 (Hayden 10). Assists: JC 9 (Tucker 3, Hoge 3), DSU 12 (Morey 3). Steals: JC 4, DSU 3 (Boos 2). Blocks: JC 2, DSU 1. Turnovers: JC 14 (Newton 3), DSU 11 (Sanders 2, Hodges 2).

Tags: college sports, sports, jimmies, basketball