Dalen Leftbear plays one last game in Four Winds’ home gym for Lake Region State College. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
FORT TOTTEN — A barrage of Dawson Community College baskets spoiled Dalen Leftbear’s homecoming.
Leftbear, a Four Winds alum, got to compete in one last game on his home court. The 2022 state champion is now a sophomore starter for the Lake Region State College Royals. So, on Monday, he returned to a gym that was ultra familiar for him and foreign to almost everybody else on the floor.
While Leftbear had a solid first half with eight points, DCC’s explosiveness took over. The Buccaneers (19-8, 7-2) throttled the Royals, 134-88.
“I’m super disappointed for Dalen,” LRSC head coach Jared Marshall said. “We just did not put on a good show out here. I’m disappointed that we didn’t show up and give our best in front of a good crowd, in front of a place of people that maybe have never been to a game like that, or never been to a college game. And to put that effort out on the floor was disappointing and frustrating.”
The 134 points was the most LRSC has allowed in a game in the online recorded history of the program, which goes back to the 2014-15 season. The previous most had been 129 in an overtime loss to Williston State College in February 2025.
The Royals (12-16, 2-8) had given up 118 twice this year — including once to this same team.
The Bucs had nine players in double figures, led by Mikey Ngoyi’s 20. Brandon Hymes had 18. DCC went 23-for-45 from three-point range, including 14-for-24 in the second half. The second-place team in the Mon-Dak shot 52.6% from the field.
“Credit to them. They were hitting a lot of tough shots, and I’m not trying to take away anything from them offensively. They got out in transition, had some other guys step up and make shots. I mean, they got hot, and we just couldn’t stop it,” Marshall said. “But I didn’t feel like we had the necessary intensity from the start to stop it. And once they kind of got going, no matter what we did, we were just unable to stop the bleeding.”
The loss stopped LRSC’s two-game conference win streak, which included a 94-84 comeback win over Miles Community College on Sunday.
“That gritty, hard-nosed team that kind of grinded one out yesterday was nowhere to be seen,” Marshall said.
In the Royals’ previous meeting with DCC, they’d lost by only a 90-87 margin.
They trailed by as many as 25 in the first half. LRSC’s own offense started to get going, though, late in the half. The deficit was down to 15 at halftime and 11 early in the second half.
Leftbear scored LRSC’s first points of the game. He also hit two triples in the first half.
Jazayah Gates added a pair of threes in the half. Jeremiah Johnson, getting the start after Marshall praised his value off the bench on Sunday, was the Royals’ leading scorer with nine in the first half.
“That was because they were going to press us, and I just felt like I wanted another ball handler out there,” Marshall said of starting Johnson. “We started him out there, and it went pretty well.”
The game got away from LRSC, though, with a 22-3 Buccaneers run. Hymes dunked during that stretch. The Royals’ deficit ballooned to 30.
“We had a couple opportunities to get into single digits,” Marshall said. “We just kind of fell apart again. And it was just frustrating today.”
Johnson, Remy Davis Warrington and Leftbear combined for just four points in the second half. Leftbear finished with 10.
One of the only bright spots after halftime was Akok Ajou, who scored nine to finish with 13. Gates also added his third and fourth triples of the afternoon, putting up a team-high 14 points off the bench. Ashton Munro had a 13-point game.
The Bucs made threes and put-backs galore. They found open looks and second chances, seemingly without much effort. They outrebounded LRSC on the afternoon, 56-40.
Late in the game, Troy Hugs came off the bench for DCC and hit four consecutive triples. In fact, his shots accounted for the Bucs’ last 12 points.
Altogether, DCC had 11 players in the scoring column. Only three of its starters reached double figures; the Bucs had six bench players score double-digit points. The bench accounted for 84 of DCC’s 134 points.
After getting kicked in the jaw at Four Winds on Monday, the Royals will try to regroup for their remaining two regular-season conference games. LRSC plays at United Tribes Technical College next Monday, then hosts Williston State College the following Thursday.
Marshall said he doesn’t quite know what to expect.
“It depends on what team comes out of this,” he said. “Is it the team that won a couple, that played Science and Dawson close, and that’s going to be gritty? Or is it the team that we saw out there today? … We’ve just been such a roller coaster this year. Before the game, we talked about how I thought we were getting closer to playing a full 40 minutes, and it just didn’t happen tonight. And I hope we take this, and they’re frustrated by it, too. I hope they come out ready to go next Monday.”
