It was bound to happen eventually.
A buzzer-beater loss to Dakota College at Bottineau. A tight defeat to first-place North Dakota State College of Science. The Lake Region State College men’s basketball team had played plenty of competitive games, but until Wednesday, still had a goose egg in the conference win column.
Through it all, head coach Jared Marshall repeatedly said how the Royals could play with anybody, but they hadn’t been consistent enough.
On Wednesday, up in Bottineau, LRSC finally broke through. The Royals avenged their 85-83 buzzer-beater loss from Jan. 11, beating the Lumberjacks 108-96 in the Woodshed. The women won, as well, to form a conference sweep of the Jacks.
The LRSC men (11-15, 1-7) trailed at the half, 52-51.
But there were no late-game dramatics this time. They outscored Bottineau (16-10, 3-5) by 13 in the second half.
Six Royals were in double figures, including two off the bench. Ashton Munro led LRSC with 23 points and eight rebounds. Akok Ajou followed up Sunday’s 28-point performance with a 20-point game. Remy Davis Warrington scored 16, while Dane Hagler had 15.
Jeremiah Johnson and Jazayah Gates added support off the bench with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Johnson has been LRSC’s most prolific scorer off the bench, with 9.7 points per game. Gates has also settled in lately.
The Jacks hit four more threes than the Royals did, but LRSC shot 55.6% from the field compared to Bottineau’s 46.8%.
The Royals had a slight advantage on the boards, 35-33. They added 20-of-27 free throw shooting.
The LRSC women (14-10, 4-4), meanwhile, beat Bottineau (3-21, 0-8) in conference play for the second time this season. After a 74-55 victory last month, the Royals took this one 80-51.
Zoie Austin had a typically solid night with 17 points and seven rebounds. Lara Graham was the leading scorer, putting up 18 points with 4-of-5 three-point shooting. Danielle McNamara went 3-for-5 from three-point range to add nine points. LRSC went 12-for-24 from three as a team.
Caitlin Hull was the leading rebounder with eight off the bench. The Royals outrebounded Bottineau overall, 39-29. The Jacks turned it over 21 times compared to LRSC’s 13.
The Royals outscored Bottineau in every quarter. Torri Fee, Ayiana Gray and Kiritiana Patea each added eight points off the bench.
The Jacks’ leading scorer was Four Winds alum Ava Gourd, who put up 13. She’s averaging 10.1 points per game.
Next up, the Royals will host Miles Community College for their last Sunday action of the regular season. It’ll get going at 12 p.m. and be done before the Super Bowl starts.
The LRSC men, still sitting in last place in the Mon-Dak, lost 84-72 in their last meeting with Miles (11-14, 4-3). The LRSC women, currently in fifth place out of seven teams, won 93-60 over Miles (12-13, 4-3) in January.
Leave a Reply