DCTC nips Samsons as rivalry grows

IRONWOOD - The site of the tournament matchup between these two teams had already been determined, but Saturday's game was proof of how much of a rivalry this has become.

Dakota County Technical College defeated Gogebic Community College 67-64 Saturday in a fantastic game that featured 11 lead changes and seven ties.

DCTC swept the regular-season matchups. All it needed was the first win to host the NJCAA Division II Region 13 playoff opener vs. GCC on Feb. 25 in St. Paul, Minn.

"This is a big rivalry match," DCTC coach Ben Smith said. "It's always an important game no matter what it's for. Anytime of the season, it's always a battle. Both teams are always ready to play and today was the same."

The largest lead was nine Saturday, held by DCTC early at 13-4. The fast-paced, well-played, fun-to-watch game came down missed offensive opportunities down the stretch for GCC.

"It was a great basketball game," GCC coach Dennis Mackey said. "The folks that came out today had to be impressed with the style of play - up and down - and the competitiveness. Sure we're disappointed we came up short, but as a coach, I'm pleased with how we played. There's some things we should have done at the end that I wish we wouldn't have done or we should have done better. But the other team's trying to. That's a good team on the other side. They're 19-6 for a reason."

The Samsons went ahead 60-59 with 7:07 left on a basket by LaDell Hickman, but they did not score again until the 2:21 mark on a baseline drive by Collin Miller. Luckily for them, DCTC only scored once in that timeframe itself and Miller's bucket put GCC up 62-61. During that span, Brandon Cooper had a putback attempt at the basket roll off the rim.

"I know the crowd gets frustrated and thinks, 'How could he miss that?'" Mackey said. "Well, there's a lot of competition out there, pushing and shoving, that you don't see in the stands. These guys are laying it all on the line. I'm proud of my guys. They competed really hard."

The Samsons had a chance to extend their lead, but Hickman, an 80 percent free throw shooter, missed two of them. DCTC's Keenan Bellaphant drove for a basket to retake the lead. Gogebic turned it over and Sam Burt came back to lay it in and put DCTC up 65-62 with 1:05 to go.

Miller made two free throws with 45.5 seconds left to make it a one-point game again, 65-64.

The Samsons decided not to foul right away and Adam Mackey forced a jump ball with 29.6 seconds left. The possession arrow pointed GCC's way.

"Big players make big plays," coach Mackey said. "He understands the game as well as anybody on the team. He's a smart player. He should be going for the steal and if you get a foul, you get a foul. You can't let the clock run out."

Miller missed going to the basket with 18 seconds left. The Blue Knights' Darian Pittrman made both foul shots and DCTC led 67-64.

"In hindsight, he might have rushed it a little bit," Mackey said of Miller's shot. "He was kind of bobbling the ball and he was a little short with it. I think he could have got his feet down and he could have finished a little stronger."

Hickman slipped on the wing with 4.6 seconds left and Gogebic got a timeout before he traveled. But time was short.

"I think he was trying to penetrate, trying to make a move to get open, trying to draw the defense. We were trying to get a penetration kick," Mackey said. "Give DCTC credit. They jumped him and they weren't going to let him get it off. They had a guy on Adam, right on him."

GCC inbounded it to Cooper on the opposite corner. He was guarded by Burt, but had to shoot with such little time remaining. He missed the 3 to force overtime. He was one of the options, but not the main one. The Blue Knights took away Miller in the middle on the final play.

"We wanted to roll Adam off the inbounds, coming off the handoff, and we were hoping we'd have one of the three guys on the perimeter, either him with the shot, LaDell with the trailer or Harris in the left corner," Mackey said.

DCTC made the big plays down the stretch.

"I thought we had a hard time in the second half executing offensively," Smith said. "Down the stretch, we executed and had a couple big buckets and also rebounded well down the stretch, which we didn't do the rest of the game."

The Samsons certainly had chances to win.

"I keep going back to the offensive end," Mackey said. "We missed a couple free throws we normally don't miss. We had the bunny that we missed wide open. Even Collin's shot, sure it was contested, but you've got to make those. Those were big-time plays and to win games like this, you've got to make a big-time play and we just didn't do it."

Mackey led Gogebic with 19 points and added eight rebounds. Cooper had a team-high 15 boards. Hickman scored 13 points.

"(Cooper) didn't have a great day offensively, but he was battling against two guys that were bigger than him," Mackey said. "But the big thing is he owned the defensive glass and we need that out of him. Some of the rebounds he's getting, he's in between some big guys, bigger than him, and he's outjumping them to get it."

Harris, Ben Zielinski and Tarius Hagood all played well at times, Mackey said.

"I thought Adam played well; he had a big game, made a lot of good decisions out there with the basketball, hit some big shots for us," Mackey said.

Burt paced DCTC with 14 points. Mackey was happy with the Samsons' defense on the 6-7 Burt after he had a big game in the first meeting. Nick Sabatke and Andrew Aakre both scored 10.

"I thought we played a very good defensive game today," Mackey said.

GCC (16-11) hosts Northland International Wednesday at 6 p.m.

DCTC - Andrew Aakre 10, Darian Pittman 9, Tim Lott 5, Keenan Bellaphant 4, Cole Piepkorn 2, Nick Sabatke 10, Jamar Kelly 4, Sam Burt 14, Malik Wilson 9. FTs: 12-21. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Sabatke 2, Wilson 1, Aakre 1, Pittman 1.

GCC - LaDell Hickman 13, Michael Harris 9, Adam Mackey 19, Ben Zielinski 4, Collin Miller 8, Tarius Hagood 8, Brandon Cooper 3. FTs: 15-21. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Mackey 2, Hickman 1, Harris 1, Cooper 1.

Half: DCTC 44-42.