#17 Jamestown Advances to DAC Tournament Championship

Fueled by an outstanding defensive effort against the shooters of Black Hills State, we put together a big 17-3 run with just over 14 minutes to go in the 2nd half and pulled out a DAC Tournament semi-final's game victory, 84-67. We were up by only 1 point at halftime, 42-41, but were able to hold Black Hills to only 26 points in the 2nd half.

Both Jordan Olson and Kyle Iverson had double-doubles tonight, as Olson had 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Iverson brought in 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Jake Holen had a record-breaking performance of his own. With his 17 points in the game, he now holds the Jamestown College single-season scoring record with 643 points this season. He passed Beau Hensel’s total of 637, which he recorded back in 2001-02. Holen is now 4th on the career scoring list with 1,607 points, nine behind No. 3 Steve White (1616 from 1973-77).

We also had a strong performance from our bench players, led by Andy Bachmeier's 6 points and 4 assists.

Also of note was the relentless defensive effort our guards did on Black Hills' 2 shooters. Kellen Bubach, along with Bachmeier and Evan Savageau deserve some great credit for holding Atkinson (16.0ppg average) to just 4 points and Emmerson (16.6ppg average) to only 9.

With the win, the Jimmies advance to the DAC Tournament Championship game, which will take place on Sunday, March 1st at the Jamestown Civic Center at 3pm against Minot State.

More articles on last night's game can be found here:

The Jamestown Sun

The Fargo Forum

#14 Jamestown advances in DAC Tournament

We hosted Dakota State tonight at the Jamestown Civic Center, in the first round of the DAC Tournament playoffs. After buidling a 14 point halftime lead, we were able to push the margin in the second half, and won the game 84-55.

Senior Jordan Olson led the way tonight with 22 points (9-10 from the field, 2-2 from 3 point land) and 7 rebounds. The DAC's leading scorer Jake Holen had 15 points and 3 assists, while Ryan Thompson barely missed a double-double with 11 points and 9 assists. Kyle Iverson added 13 points and 8 rebounds.

We will now face Black Hills State (who beat Mayville State tonight 84-82) in the semi-finals of the DAC Tournament, Wednesday night at the Jamestown Civic Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00pm.

Our team's overall record now improves to 22-7.

#14 Jamestown drops final regular season game

We lost a physically tough game tonight, 78-65 against Valley City State. We managed to cut the lead to 5 with under 3 minutes to play, but couldn't get the shots to fall at the end.

Jake Holen led our team in points with 24.

As the #1 seed in the DAC post-season tournament, we will host Dakota State at the Jamestown Civic Center on this Sunday at 3pm.

Holen named DAC Player of the Week

It was announced today that Jake Holen was named player of the week for the Dakota Athletic Conference.

Holen led our team to 2 crucial victories this past weekend, which allowed us to clinch the 2007-2008 regular season DAC Championship. He had 55 points in our 2 games against SD Tech and Black Hills State.

Click here for the complete details: http://www.dakotaac.org/basketball/players.htm

Tomorrow night's Valley City State game will tip-off at 7:30pm, as our team tries to improve on its 21-6 overall record.

Conference Champions!

For the 21st time in our school's history, Jamestown College has earned the right to be called "Conference Champions."

On a night where our 7 seniors were honored prior to the game with their parents, there was certainly plenty of emotion flowing throughout the Jamestown Civic Center and the over 1,500 fans in attendance to watch our game against Black Hills State.

With only a 6 point lead at halftime (32-26), the 2nd half turned into an offensive showcase. We built a 14 point lead late, but Black Hills hit some contested shots to stay within striking distance. However, our seniors would not allow them to get any closer, and we converted some key free throws down the stretch. The final score favored the #18th ranked Jimmies, 87-77, as we put up 55 points in that 2nd half.

Both Jake Holen and Kyle Iverson dropped in 20 points, while Holen added 4 assists and Iverson grabbed 6 rebounds. Jordan Olson played an all-around solid game, as he brought in a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Three other seniors also added some much needed contributions: Ryan Thompson had 8 points and 8 assists, Jerald Richardson had 8 points and 4 rebounds, and Kellen Bubach had 7 points and 3 rebounds.

There were so many contributors to this victory, and not all of them will show up in the box score. We had a relentless effort defensively on the Black Hills's players, and we were allowing them no easy looks at the basket. Our starters and bench (including Andy Bachmeier, Evan Savageau and John Peabody) did a fantastic job defensively, as well as the guys who worked their tails off in practice this week simulating the efforts we saw in the games.

Though we've got the conference crown wrapped up, we have one final game remaining on the regular season schedule. We'll host #24 Valley City State on Wednesday night at 7:30pm. Our overal record has improved to 21-6, and we are 11-2 in the DAC.

#18 Jamestown beats SD Tech

We turned in another strong performance on the offensive end of the floor tonight, as we beat SD Tech 83-73.

Jake Holen led all scorers tonight with 35 points, including 13 (out of 14) from the free throw line. Kyle Iverson added 18 points and 5 rebounds, while Kellen Bubach dropped in 12 points.

With our victory tonight and Valley City losing to Black Hills State, we are now guaranteed at least a share of the DAC title this season.

Our overall record is now 20-6, and we are 10-2 in conference.

Tomorrow night's game against Black Hills State will start at 6pm. We will honor our 7 senior's prior to the game with some pre-game festivities.

Jamestown ranked #18 in the nation

The new NAIA Men's Basketball Coach's Poll was released today, and our team has moved up to #18 in the polls. The entire poll can be viewed here:

http://naia.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl-div2/spec-rel/021308aab.html

And, if you'd like to view the current standing in the DAC, you can find that information here:
http://www.dakotaac.org/basketball/mens/

Newspaper Articles

Here are a few newspaper articles from Saturday's game at Minot State:

The Jamestown Sun

Minot Daily News

Completing Another Road Sweep

With four players in double figures last night, our team jumped out to an early 14 point halftime lead, and held on for an 88-67 road victory at Minot State.

Jordan Olson and Ryan Thompson led the way for us, and both poured in 20 points. Olson added 8 rebounds while Thompson (who was perfect from the 3 point line, going 4-4) had 6 assists. Kyle Iverson added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Jake Holen had 13 points and 3 assists.

Our defensive effort showed tonight, as we held Minot to only 30 points in the first half, and to 17 points under their season average. Our team lit up the nets on the offensive end, by shooting 50% from the field, 42% from the 3-pt line and 91% from the FT line. We also had only 1 turnover in the 2nd half.

We now have sole possesion of 1st place in our conference with a 9-2 record. Our overall record has improved to 19-6.

We now will play our final 3 games of the regular season at home, in the friendly confines of the Jamestown Civic Center. We will face SD Tech on Friday night at 7:30pm and Black Hills State on Saturday at 6:00pm (we'll honor our senior's before the game). Our final home game will be Wednesday, February 20th against Valley City State at 7:30pm.

A Win at Dickinson

In a defensive battle last night, our team was able to emerge through the fire and come away with a 53-48 conference victory on the road at Dickinson State.

The score was tied at halftime at 22 apiece, as both teams had the focus of not allowing the other team any easy or open looks from anywhere on the floor. Both teams had nearly identical shooting percentages (31% in the 1st half), although we were able to make six 3's for the game, including 3 from senior point guard Ryan Thompson. Thompson finished the game with 12 points and 3 assists.

Jordan Olson led the way for our team tonight, as he put up another double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Dickinson really focused on locking down the DAC's leading scorer Jake Holen, as well as Kyle Iverson. Both saw frequent double-teams and faced intense pressure the minute they crossed the half-court line. Holen was held to only 7 points, while Iverson finished with just 2, well below both of their averages. Both of them stepped up in other ways, however, and made frequent plays down the stretch to put their teammates in great positions.

With Valley City losing last night at Minot State, our team now has sole possession of 1st place in the Conference, with an 8-2 record (18-6 overall). We now travel north to Minot State for another road game tonight at 6pm.

A Few Additional Thoughts...

After the brief recap I posted this weekend about our two home victories over Mayville State and Dakota State, I thought I'd provide a few more thoughts and observations about the games and our season:

-In the game against Mayville State, Jake Holen scored 23 of his game-high 30 points in the 2nd half. His ability to both nail jump shots and finish at the rim really opened up the court for our entire offense. He is playing at an exceptional level right now, and is currently ranked #8 in the nation in scoring (22.2ppg), #9 in 3-pt FG percentage (48%) and #6 in FT percentage (90%).

-Kyle Iverson had one of his most dominant weekends that we've seen this season and really put the team on his back during parts of both games. When he goes to work in the post, we have yet to see ANYONE who can come close to stopping him. Kyle had a double-double against Mayville (12 points and 12 rebounds) and is currently ranked #23 in the nation in FG percentage (57%). He is really showing us why he is a 2 time All-American.

-Our senior point guard, Ryan Thompson, doesn't always get his name in the papers, nor does his statistics always leap out at you. But, his consistency at the helm of our offense and his ability to both run the team and get the ball to guys in a position to score are a huge value to us right now. Ryan had ten assists this weekend and is currently ranked #14 in the nation in assists (5.2/game). He also is 2nd in the DAC in assist-to-turnover ratio.

-Our team as a whole also has some impressive national statistics: We are currently #3 in the nation in 3-pt FG percentage (42%), #4 in Field Goal percentage (51%), and #11 in Scoring Offense (84 points/game).

-We are currently 17-6 overall and our 7-2 conference record has us in a tie for first place . And, we have won 9 out of our last 10 games.

A Win for First Place

Our team earned a hard fought victory tonight against Mayville State, as both teams were competing for the top spot in the DAC. The score was tied at 33 at halftime, but we were able to control the tempo and play solid Jimmie Basketball to get an 83-74 win. We had a great atmosphere tonight, as the energetic and passionate Jamestown fans really gave us a boost in the 2nd half.

The win keeps us in 1st place in the DAC, where we are currently tied with Valley City with a 7-2 record. Our overall record improves to 17-6.

Stay tuned for some great pictures and a more in-depth recap of tonight's game coming soon!

Jamestown beats Dakota State...Again...

For the 2nd time in just 6 days, our team posted a victory over the Dakota State Trojans, 84-64 at the Jamestown Civic Center. Dakota State kept the game close for the first half, as we only led 35-33 at the halfway mark. But, we were able to outscore them 49-31 in the 2nd half, after starting on a 15-3 run.

Jake Holen led the way with 28 points (9-14 from the field, 4-8 3ptFG) and 4 rebounds. Kyle Iverson was unstopable from inside, as he showcased an impressive display of post moves from the block. He finished the game with 14 points and was 5-6 from the field. Jordan Olson added 15 points and 5 rebounds.

The win improves our record to 16-6, and 6-2 in the conference. The 6-2 record now has us tied for 1st place with Valley City and Mayville State. We take on Mayville State tonight at 6pm.