Young Conqs Struggle, Drop All 3 at Midland Classic
MIDLAND, Texas – The Dodge City CC Conquistadors men’s basketball team opened up their 2023-2024 season this week, taking part in the inaugural Bob Chapman Memorial Basketball Classic at Midland College. The Conqs took on Howard, Midland and Odessa in the event and came out on the wrong end of all three games to start the season 0-3.
Brad Witherspoon has an almost entirely new roster to work with in his second season at the helm. The Conqs went 25-10 in Witherspoon’s first season, as Dodge City won their second consecutive Jayhawk conference title and advanced all the way to the Elite Eight of the NJCAA tournament.
11/1 – RV Howard 66, Dodge City 59
The Conqs opened their season against a talented Howard team that also made a deep run the NJCAA tournament last season. Dodge City’s offense started the game awfully slow, digging an 18-6 hole early in the first half. They eventually were able to settle in though, despite losing sophomore transfer Ice Emery early in the game with an ankle injury.
The Conqs went on 14-3 run midway through the quarter to pull within one and ended up trailing 31-27 at halftime.
Freshman guard Marius Canery found his rhythm in the second half, pouring in 14 points after the break, finishing with 21 overall.
“I was impressed with him, he was the one bright spot I think in our game from a guard perspective. He made tough plays, he dove on the floor, once he got settled in he wasn’t scared of the moment and he made some big shots down the stretch,” Witherspoon said following the game.
Gavin Shannon gave him strong support inside as he tallied 14 points and 12 rebounds.
It turned out to not be enough for the Conqs though, as Howard kept from making a late run and the Hawks iced the game with clutch free throws and a Brandon Hall dunk with under 30 seconds to play put the exclamation point on the 66-59 Howard victory.
11/2 – #7 Midland 82, Dodge City 64
The offensive woes continued into their second game as they managed just three first half field goals, all of which were threes. The Conqs were outmatched inside for most of the contest as they struggled to match up with Midland’s 6’8″ sophomore forward Ta-Quan Woodley who dominated the glass and scored 15 for the hometown Chaparrals.
Dodge City hung tough in the game for the first 15 minutes of the game but Midland turned a slim 21-20 lead in to a 14 point edge at halftime after going on a 14-1 run to end the half. Will Young was the primary contributor as he scored all 11 of his first half points during that stretch.
The Conqs did what they could to muster a comeback, cutting the deficit to seven midway through the second half but Avnoor Bhullar missed an open three that could’ve cut it to four and Midland was able to seize control back, going on another big run to put the game away as they ended up winning by 18.
Ice Emery bounced back from his injury to score 15 points for the Conqs while Shannon put together another strong performance with 15 points as well.
As a whole though, Dodge City stuggled massively on offense shooting under 25% from the field with most of their offensive production coming from the free throw line where they went 34-40.
11/3 – #3 Odessa 97, Dodge City 70
The competition only got tougher for the Conqs in their final game as they took on another experienced team that made a deep run last year. Dodge City’s lack of size hurt them again as they continue to try and work around the season ending injury of center Tuscan Onuoha, leaving the young Tyler Williams and Gavin Shannon to work against more experienced big men.
Odessa took advantage of those matchup advantages inside in this game, with bigs Jordan Ray, Peter Oduro and Adam Wallen all making an impact on both ends of the floor for the Wranglers.
The Conqs kept pace early in the contest, mostly because of the three point shooting of Emery who scored 15 first half points, with every bucket coming from outside the arc. Just like in the previous game though, a late run first half run by their opponent put Dodge City in a hole they couldn’t dig out of.
Dodge City led at several points in the opening half but the Wranglers turned a one point lead late in the half into ten at halftime as the Conqs trailed 45-35 after 20 minutes.
Unlike the previous game though, the Conqs couldn’t keep this one close as the Odessa offense caught fire in the second half with sophomore Brandon Maclin scoring 17 in the game and Dylan Sanders and Daryl Houston combining for 17 points in the second half alone.
Dodge City got another solid game out of Shannon who scored 16 to go along with Emery’s 20 but those were the only two Conqs to score in double-digits as the Conqs fell to 0-3 with the 97-70 loss.
“It’s going to be a toughness thing honestly, it’s going to be us getting into shape, getting tougher on the glass. We’ve got to understand the importance of getting stops and guarding stuff the right way…we’ve got to get better,” Witherspoon said after the tournament.
Dodge City will look to get back on track next Friday and Saturday when they head to the Trinidad Classic where they will play Otero and Trinidad State. The Conqs take on Rattlers on Friday at 5 p.m. and the Trojans on Saturday at 4 p.m.
