DODGE CITY, Kan. - In a game that saw both teams shoot nearly 50 percent from the field, the Dodge City Community College men's basketball team broke a 42-42 deadlock to pull away for a 97-84 win over Independence Community College at the Student Activities Center in Dodge City on Wednesday, February 22nd. 

Now sitting at 19-9 overall and 16-8 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, the Conquistadors can clinch the No. 3 seed in next week's NJCAA Region VI Tournament on Saturday with a win or Cloud County loss. The Pirates slipped to a game under .500 at 13-14 overall and 10-14 in the KJCCC. 

Sophomore Mike Jones would open the game on a personal 5-0 run to put Dodge City up in the opening minute as DC3 hold a lead for the opening five minutes of the game. Dajon Streeter would give ICC their first lead of the game at 13-12 with 14:44 remaining in the first half before Kourtney Ware would answer right back with a three of his own to put Dodge City back on top. The next two minutes would see a pair of lead changes and ties before DC3 would go on another 5-0 run to gain some breathing room and push the lead to 27-20 at the media timeout with 9:27 remaining in the opening frame. Harris Brown would give the Conquistadors their largest lead of the half at 29-20 with 9:08 left in the half before Independence would go on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 29 all with 6:22 remaining. four more ties to go along with two lead changes would be seen down the stretch of the first half as Ware would tie the game at 42 with a pair of free throws in the final minute before halftime. 

DC3 would slowly work their lead up over the Pirates in the second half, trading two's for three's on their offensive end pushing their lead back up to nine on one of Nick Noskowiak's four three's in the game. Dodge City would finally build a double-digit lead with 14:10 left in the game and never look back as the Conquistadors would lead by as many as 19 and never let Independence any closer than 13 in the final five minutes. 

"We got up seven-nine points and then got rushed on offense" said head coach Kyle Campbell in a post-game interview with Damon Post. "After talking with our guys at halftime, we made some adjustments and had some longer offensive possessions which led to us only turning the ball over four times in the second-half."

Dodge City would finish 19 of 34 from the field in the second half to go along with a 13 of 26 performance in the first 20 minutes to shoot 53.3 percent from the field (32-60) and knock down 14 three's after making just three at Allen County on Saturday. The 14 triples marks a season-high for DC3, who would also go 19 of 24 from the free-throw line (79.2%) and hold a 31-30 advantage on the glass. 

Ware would lead all scorers with 31 points in the game, scoring 19 in the second half while Noskowiak had 18 points. Jones would pitch in 11 points and a game-high six assists with Josh Boutte grabbing a team-high nine rebounds. Streeter would pace the Pirates with 22 points. 

DC3 will play their final regular-season home game on Saturday, February 25th, when the Conquistadors play host to Seward County Community College. Dodge City, which has already clinched an NJCAA Region VI home playoff game on Thursday, March 2nd, will honor seven sophomores prior to the game. Seward County fell by a final score of 92-76 on the road at Colby Wednesday night. Saturday will mark the 99th meeting all-time between DC3 and SCCC, with the series being deadlocked at 48 games each heading into the 3 p.m. clash.