Jeremiah Johnson looks for an opening. (Photo by Cameron Carlson)
DEVILS LAKE — The Royals had it handed to them defensively on Wednesday.
Despite a solid game from Remy Davis Warrington (18 points, five rebounds, four assists), and double-figure points from local stars Dalen Leftbear and Dane Hagler, Lake Region State College (9-13, 0-5) lost another conference game, this time to United Tribes Technical College (11-10, 1-3) at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
It was a 95-76 beatdown.
“They just came out making shots. We didn’t provide defensive resistance at all,” LRSC head coach Jared Marshall said. “I thought they had energy and intensity, and we didn’t. And that’s a team that you can’t match bucket for bucket, because they’re going to do that to you. And I’m just disappointed in our overall defense. We’re still making the same day-one mistakes. They didn’t run a ton of sets at us, but the sets they did run, we didn’t guard it correctly, and it cost us. And so, to see us continuing to make the same mistakes, it’s frustrating. And I need to do a better job to get us to clean it up.”
In the first half, the Thunderbirds were led by 6-foot-5 sophomore Zi White Woman and 6-foot-4 freshman Benjamin OldPerson-Harlow.
White Woman carved up the Royals, getting to the hole for 19 points before halftime. OldPerson-Harlow added 15.
“Zi, he’s a heck of a player. And we knew that coming in,” Marshall said. “And we threw a couple different guys at him to try and see if we could change things up. And it didn’t matter. It didn’t happen. … We didn’t do a good enough job on him.”
On the bright side, Leftbear had the Royals’ first six points and 12 in the half. Leftbear played for UTTC as a freshman last year. The Tokio, N.D., native has taken a big scoring load for LRSC — so has Hagler, who totaled 15 points Wednesday night.
Davis Warrington matched Leftbear with 12 in the first half.
“Remy has been good,” Marshall said. “Would like to see him stop getting himself into trouble. But he’s been really good lately. We just aren’t making shots around him. Sometimes he’s making the right reads, the right kick-outs, and he’s getting into the paint, drawing the defense, and we’re kicking out. We’re just not making the shots off of it.”
Akok Ajou hit a triple in the first half, adding nine in the half and 15 in the game.
The Royals hung around within a single-digit deficit for most of the first half. They trailed 52-42 at halftime after a three-pointer by Leftbear.
But their shooting dried in the second half, and they couldn’t keep up.
They shot just 13-for-36 after halftime, including 1-for-11 from three-point range.
While four of their starters were in double figures, they got very little help from the bench. Mostly because of injuries, LRSC’s roster isn’t as deep as it was to begin the season. The Royals didn’t get any bench points at all in the first half. Jeremiah Johnson had five in the second half, but still only one field goal.
“That was something at the beginning of the year we were pretty clear about. We wanted to give everybody opportunities. Wanted to keep everybody engaged,” Marshall said. “It’s been inconsistent, right? Jeremiah has been good off the bench for us at times; and tonight, he was 1-for-6. Zay [Jazayah Gates] had 11 out in Montana against Miles, and he’s kind of coming back from an injury, but 0-for-3 tonight. We’re kind of searching for answers off the bench, and we’re just not totally getting it.”
Lance Bradley entered and scored two points, but went 0-for-3 on three-point attempts.
“We went to Lance tonight, see if he could spark us, make a couple threes. And that didn’t happen,” Marshall said. “And they were good looks. We just need to find that spark, and we just aren’t getting that.”
LRSC closed the gap as tight as six points early in the second half, after Davis Warrington made a put-back on a missed three by Leftbear, and Ajou got a floater in.
The game spiraled on a series of triples by Gordon Fineday. The 6-foot-4 Kansas native hadn’t made any points in the first half. In the second half, he made three consecutive three-pointers and totaled five in the half. He ended up scoring 19 points.
White Woman added eight to finish with a game-high 27 points. But Fineday took over the scoring load from beyond the arc in the second half.
“We dug on White Woman when we shouldn’t have, and he got some kick-outs,” Marshall said. “We blew a couple switches. And overall, our rotations just weren’t there to kind of get him.”
Leftbear was limited to two points in the second half. No Royal scored more than Hagler’s nine in the half.
The Thunderbirds had a stretch where they outscored LRSC 27-8.
The Royals are still searching for their first conference win. Of their five losses, three have been reasonably close, and even Wednesday’s contest was within reach as late as the first few minutes of the second half.
The roster has taken hits throughout the season for various reasons. It’s not as deep a squad as originally envisioned. Davis Warrington has stepped up in his sophomore year, while first-year Royals Leftbear and Hagler are both playing well close to home, but LRSC hasn’t been good enough to win any Mon-Dak games yet.
“We’re a 20-to-30-minute a night team,” Marshall said. “And usually, those last 10 minutes hurt us. … We’re not a full 40 team. And it’s hurting us. We’ve had some opportunities: Bottineau, Dawson. Tonight wasn’t close. Tribes came out and handled their business. So it was frustrating to have an opportunity tonight and to just not take advantage.”
The Royals will travel to Williston State College on Monday to take on the Tetons (12-9, 1-2).
