Blue Knights Burt continues to push team forward
St. Paul, Minn. – Saturday night's home basketball game against North Dakota State College of Science proved to be DCTC's biggest win of the season. The Wildcats of NDSCS came into historic Hutton Arena at Hamline University with a 22-5 record in the NJCAA Division I. Fourteen weeks ago, in the first game of this season in North Dakota, the Blue Knights lost to NDSCS 90-66 in the opening game of the American Classic Tip-off Tournament. The return game of the season series would end quite differently.
In a hard fought battle, a younger DCTC made sure not to lose pace with a bigger opponent. After trailing early on 24-16, the Blue Knights came back to take a 33-31 lead at the half. The Wildcats Johnny Woodard had 20 of his team's first half points (finishing with 32 points). Woodward is currently being recruited to transfer to the Big Ten's Minnesota Gophers who also had coaches in attendance on Saturday night.
The second half saw the lead tilt back and forth. As he has since the New Year, Sam Burt (sophomore Apple Valley) paced the DCTC team posting 18 points and nine rebounds. In the final push of the game Burt scored three consecutive shots. Andrew Aakre (sophomore Champlin Park) sank a 15 foot jumper with two minutes to play, pulling DCTC into the lead. With eight seconds remaining and DCTC up by two points, NDSCS fouled Darian Pittman (freshman St. Paul) who sank two free throws to seal the victory.
DCTC Head Coach Ben Davis"Tonight's win was a huge step in this late stage of the season. I was proud of the way our guys defended from start to finish. NDSCS is a really good team and to hold them to 65 points is a huge accomplishment."
DCTC improves to 21-6 with two regular season games remaining. DCTC will be back at Hutton Arena on Tuesday at 7pm when they host Crossroads College. DCTC plays its last regular season game next Saturday at Iowa Lakes Community College. The NJCAA playoffs begin on Wednesday February 25th with DCTC hosting Gogebic Community College in the first of three rounds of regional district single elimination. That playoff game will be at the Salvation Army in St. Paul, with a 7pm tip-off.
