The Lumberjack Men's Basketball team opened their season at the Mon-Dak Tip-off Tournament this past weekend in New Town, ND. The Jacks picked up one win to finish 7th.
97-65 loss to Miles Community College
The Jacks struggled to get things going in the first half shooting just 27.5% from the field and giving up a 15-3 run. At the half the Jacks trailed Miles 46-28. Despite shooting better in the second half the Jacks struggled to slow down the Pioneer offense which had all the momentum coming out of halftime eventually going on a 17-2 run. The Pioneers would win 97-65. Jalen Blanchard led the Jacks with 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for a double-double. Jaden Arzola joined him in double figures with 12 points. Azenio Cossa led MCC and all scorers with 19 points.
64-56 loss to NDSCS
DCB returned to the floor Saturday morning to take on perennial conference favorite NDSCS. In a game that would be considered a defensively slugfest the Jacks hung with the Wildcats. After getting down by as many as 12 points DCB would cut the Wildcat lead to just six late in the second half. However, that's as close as the Jacks would get falling 64-56. Blanchard led the Jacks in scoring again with 14 points. He was joined by Shaun Armstrong and Cael Simpson each with 11 points. Jikany Deang led the Wildcats and all scorers with 15 points.
93-70 win over UTTC
The Jacks came out reinvigorated for the final day of play. DCB got in done on both ends of the floor opening up a 20-point lead in the first half. The Jacks would never look back, eventually winning their first game of the season by a score of 93-70 over fell NJCAA D2 Region 13 foe UTTC. Edward Lual led 6 Lumberjacks in double-figures off the bench with 16 points. He was joined in double figures by Phil Gibaut with 15 points, Simpson added 13, Armstrong and Blanchard each finished with 12 and Arzola dropped in 10 points.
The Jacks record now sits at 1-2 these games did not count towards theri Mon-Dak Conference record. They hit the road to take on Mesabi Range and Rainy River on Friday and Saturday. Game times are set for 7:00p.m. on Friday and 1:00p.m. Saturday.