Ironhawks Fall In Season Opener

In their first regular season game of the season, the Minnesota North – Vermilion Ironhawks men's basketball team battled with the Dakota County Blue Knights, a NJCAA Division II team who is coming off a bid in the national tournament a year ago. After scoring the opening basket of the game and taking a 2-0 lead, the Ironhawk offense went cold as DCTC raced out to a 9-2 lead, never giving back the lead. Vermilion dominated on the glass, with 20 offensive rebounds, though turnovers were their undoing, giving the ball back to Dakota County 28 times.

"I thought our kids played hard," said Vermilion Head Coach Dan Tharp. "We turned the ball over entirely to much, but DCTC is an experienced and very well coached team that puts you under a ton of pressure. We have a young team, with 75% of our roster playing their first college basketball game. I am confident we can watch the film and learn from our mistake and get better from this one."

The Ironhawks were led on the offensive end by sophomore CJ Brown (Minneapolis, MN) who led the way with 16 points and 4 rebounds. Also chipping in for Vermilion was Braylin Reed (Muskogee, OK) with 8 points and 8 rebounds, Sammy Russ (St. Paul, MN) with 8 points and 5 rebounds and J'Sean Banks (New Orleans, LA) with 7 points.

The Vermilion Ironhawks return to the floor at NCAA Division III member Northland College in Ashland, WI for a 5:30 PM tip on Thursday, November 3.