Trojans Split Weekend Games at Home and Finish Fourth in the North Star Athletic Association Regular Season Standings

The Dakota State Men’s Basketball team split their weekend to round out the regular season with a win over Valley City State 95-79 and a loss to Dickinson State 85-70 on Senior Night.

With the weekend split, the Trojans are now 16-12 overall and went 6-6 in North Star Athletic Association play. They will enter the NSAA Postseason Tournament as the four seed and will host their Quarterfinal matchup.

Friday vs Valley City State

In the matchup with Valley City State, the Trojans managed to notch their second highest scoring mark of the year with 95 points. They had a season-high 30 free throw attempts, as well as a season-high 26 free throws made. This win gave the Trojans their most wins since the 2016-17 season (16-16) and the first season series sweep over Valley City State since 2018-19.

Cleveland Bedgood led the way for the Vikings with 29 points and also led his team in assists with eight. They had four total players in double figures. Jerome Washington posted 16 points off the bench, followed by Odier Olange with 13 points and Cayden Rickard with 11.

The Trojans had nine different players score in the game and all had five or more points. Leading the way was Mison Coilton off the bench with 20 points. It was his fourth 20- or more point outing of the season, all four coming in conference play. Following him in scoring are a trio of Trojans. Emmanuel Akpan and Uhana Ochan both scored 16 points, which was a season-high for Ochan. Uzo Dibiamaka added 11 points for DSU as well and Ochan also tied his season-high in rebounds with 10 for a double-double.

Saturday vs Dickinson State

Saturday’s matchup was a whole lot different from the performance on Friday. They were unable to stop the bleeding and get stops. Allowing another player 25+ points, but in a loss. That player being Trey Stevens who had a season-high 30 points, 25 coming in the second half. He was one of just two players in double digits, the other being John Evans who posted 16 points.

It was more so the story of the second half that described this game. It’s where the Blue Hawks caught fire. Shooting 66.7% from the field in the second half and 57.1% from deep. They also saw the free throw line often with 22 of their 26 attempts coming in the second half. DSU gave up 16 points off their 14 turnovers.

Japtjit Gill led the scoring with 14 points, with 10 coming in the first half. Three other Trojans saw double figures in the game. Coilton added 13 points off the bench, all coming in the second half.  Ochan added 12 points and Kenny Haynes posted 11 off the bench. The Trojans shot 43.1% from the field and 40.9% from deep.

Darren Tighe, head coach of the Trojans, stated in the Mustang Seeds postgame show that his guys looked “gassed” in the game. He also commented in regards to how they looked in the game saying “That’s not who we are and that’s not who we’ll be on Wednesday (in the NSAA Postseason Tournament).”

Next Game

Next the Trojans will get to host their Quarterfinal game in the NSAA Postseason Tournament as they will take on the five seed Viterbo V-Hawks on Wednesday in the DSU Fieldhouse at 7:30pm following the women’s game.