DODGE CITY, Kan. – A smooth start which included a pair of triples by Kourtney Ware would lead the Dodge City Community College men's basketball team to a 91-77 victory over visiting Neosho County Community College at the Student Activities Center in Dodge City, Kansas on Saturday afternoon.

DC3 improved to 15-6 overall and 12-5 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference after sweeping the season series from the Panthers. Neosho slipped to 7-14 and 4-13 in the KJCCC with the loss.

Dodge City would trail all of 12 seconds in the game after giving up a transition three following a Josh Boutte layup to open up the game. Ware would then hit two quick three's followed by a Boutte fast-break dunk to take a 10-3 lead just over three minutes into the game. Three-point shooting would be the recipe for success in the first half, as nine treys in the first half would see Dodge City lead by as many as 19 and hold a double-digit lead the final 11:55 of the half. The Conqs would take a 43-31 lead into the break as Neosho County would outscore DC3 12-5 in the final 3:47 of the half.

Dodge City would maintain their double-digit lead for much of the second half, not allowing the Panthers to close within single-digits until the 14:46 mark which capped off a quick 9-5 spurt. The lead would hover around 11 points for DC3 for the next few minutes and get cut to nine at 65-56 with 10:32 left in the game before six straight Conquistador free-throws would balloon the lead back out to 71-56 with 8:52 remaining. Dodge City would push their lead back out to 17 on three separate occasions in the final minutes, but never could match their largest lead of the game as Neosho County would get as close as 12 but ran out of time to complete a comeback.

"This was the best team game that I thought we played all year despite not truly being able to get over the hump in terms of turnovers" said head coach Kyle Campbell in a post-game interview with Damon Post. "We made nine three's in the first half which is always a good thing, but we really emphasized attacking down low in the second half and the guys responded well to it."

All five starters for the Conqs would finish in double-figures as DC3 would finish 29 of 65 (52.5%) from the field and shoot 44.4 percent (12-27) from beyond the arc. Free-throw shooting would also be one of the better percentages that Dodge City has had all year, finishing 17 of 24 (70.8%) from charity stripe.

Boutte and Brandon Miller would each record a double-double as Boutte would finish with 25 points and 10 rebounds while Miller had 11 points and 10 boards off the bench. Nick Noskowiak hit two first half three's on his way to 10 points while Ware had 13 points and two assists. Trevon Evans would narrowly miss out on a double-double by finishing with 16 points and eight assists to go along with one block. The Panthers were led by Lewis Freeman with 21 points and five rebounds.

Another chance at a season sweep is in store for Dodge City on Wednesday night when DC3 will travel to Colby to take on the Trojans. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. following the conclusion of the women's game against a surging Colby team, who have won five of their last 10 games heading into a 6 p.m. clash at Independence on Saturday night. DC3 beat Colby 103-73 earlier this year.