Box Score DICKINSON, ND – It was another road game in the conference schedule for the Comets on Saturday night, traveling to Dickinson, ND to take on the DSU Blue Hawks. Coming off of six straight wins and three straight NSAA wins, they were looking to collect another win to take home with them.
The game started off rather close as each team kept going back and forth to tie the game early. The Comets found a little spurt to go ahead by six in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Cameron Epps found a hot groove from behind the arc, which helped build the Comets lead by as much as eleven before the first half ended. The team was shooting nearly 50% from 3-point land by going 8-17 in the half. Coach Darren Tighe took his team into the locker room at the half with an 8-point lead, 40 to 32.
It was a different story in the second half as the Blue Hawks came out strong right away and quickly tied the game up at 40 each, barreling out with a 14-0 run to take the lead for good in the game. The Comets continued to try and keep the margin in single digits, but were having a hard time containing DSU's Marcus White and some others with hot hands.
The lead climbed to ten for the Blue Hawks, causing Coach Tighe to call a quick 30-second timeout with about 5 and a half minutes left to play. The Comets kept charging down the stretch to whittle the lead away, getting as close as three by going on a 9-2 run to make the score 70-67. DSU was able to secure the lead with their free throws at the end, holding off a late surge by Epps who chipped in two more three pointers. In the end, the Comets winning streak came to an end in the 82-71 loss to the Blue Hawks.
"We just didn't get enough stops in the second half. You have to hand it to Dickinson, they played very well and scored at will coming out of halftime," Coach Tighe explained. "We learned some things about our team this weekend that will help us down the road, so it was a positive couple days."
DSU's Marcus White led all scorers with 30 on the night. For the Comets, they were led by
Cameron Epps with 24, who went 8-19 from the field, including 7 of 15 from three point range. Right behind him was
Eric Staebler with twelve and
Garek Droog with eight. Staebler led the team with eight rebounds. Overall field goal percentage was a big difference maker, as DSU hit exactly 50% of their shots by going 28 for 56, while the Comets shot just 36%, 25 out of 68.
Next up for the Comets will be more conference action next Sunday, December 17th, as they travel to Madison, SD and take on Dakota State in another NSAA battle. Game time is 5:00 pm.
