Basketball Season comes to the end at the national tournament.

Basketball Season Comes to the End at the National Tournament.

Dakota County – 66
Pitt - 75

For immediate release:
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Danville, IL – Day 3 of the 2019 Division II Men's Basketball National Tournament was a consolation matchup between Dakota County, the No. 7 seed, and the 15-seeded Pitt Bulldogs. Pitt came ready to play and jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the first minute and a half, forcing Dakota County to use a timeout to regroup. Cody Sticha got the Blue Knights going and Termaine Daniels and Amitri Collins-Westlund also got in the action and brought DCTC back within two, 9-7. But Pitt punched right back – for the next five minutes, Dakota County went scoreless and Pitt did not. They scored 15 points and led 24-7 at the halfway point of the first period. Pitt played 15 guys over the course of the first half, and was led by Rovel Ray who had 6, and nine other Bulldogs scored. Collins-Westlund paced DCTC with 10. Pitt led by nine at the break.

The second half was a tale of two halves in itself. After Dakota County wormed back into the game, 40-32, the Blue Knights would go on a near seven-minute field goal drought, only making one free throw in that span. During that time, Pitt scored 16 points and developed a 23-point advantage with just over 11 minutes to go in the game. At one point in that stretch, Dakota County picked up two technical fouls, and Matisse Edwards stepped to the line and made 7 of 8 free throws in a span of 37
seconds. Daniels took over for Dakota County and began to bring the Blue Knights back. He led DCTC during a 26-12 stretch scoring 10 of those 26 and bringing the game back to within single digits, 68-59. But their remaining chances were squandered with missed layups and turnovers. Pitt didenough at the free throw line in the remaining two minutes to keep DCTC at bay, and won the game 77-66.

TEAM LEADERS:
Dakota County:
#5 Termaine Daniels – Fr. – 6'1 – 18pts, 8/11 FG
#13 Dashawn Walker – Fr. – 6'6 – 12pts, 6rebs
#11 Amitiri Collins-Westlund – Fr. – 6'1 – 16pts, 4rebs, 5/11 3PT
Pitt:
#32 Reginald Clark – Fr. -6'4 - 14pts, 17rebs, 8/13 FT
#25 Rovel Ray – Fr. – 6'3 – 12pts, 4rebs, 6/10 FG
#1 Damar Sutton – Fr. – 6'2 - 11pts, 6rebs, 4/7 FG
#0 Rujon Walters – Fr. – 6'1 - 12pts, 4/7 FG
#34 Matisse Edwards – Fr. – 5'5 – 10pts, 8/10 FT