The Lake Region State College men’s basketball team has come close lately. Time and time again, the Royals have been in games and gone on competitive stretches. But they haven’t found a way to rise over the hump.
“It’s like insanity. You keep doing the same things over and over again and expect different results,” head coach Jared Marshall said. “We keep doing the same stuff, and the same things keep happening. We need to change what we’re doing and change our mindsets, and take advantage of the opportunities at the end of the game.”
The Royals (6-15, 2-10) led for roughly the first 35 minutes of Sunday’s 40-minute game, yet still fell just short in a tough 79-75 loss to Williston State College (7-14, 3-9) at Devils Lake Sports Center on Sunday. They committed 12 turnovers and were outrebounded 51-42. The loss dropped LRSC to last place in the Mon-Dak Athletic Conference.
“It’s just the same stuff, man. Turnovers, offensive rebounds,” Marshall said. “We didn’t get stops. We were fouling a lot. Because they were the tougher team. They had 21 O boards in the second half and 27 free throws. To me, that just says they worked harder than we did in every aspect.”
What has to make the Royals’ loss sting even more is that they got off to a commanding start. Blessed Barhayiga came out with a couple quick baskets, and the team led 8-0 in a hurry. The Tetons were getting in the right positions and snagging rebounds, but they weren’t capitalizing on their shots early in the game. LRSC had a lead as large as 20-6.
“We’re a pretty good team right off the bat, right? We get out to good starts, come out in the second half and do good stuff,” Marshall said. “But once it clicks below 10 minutes left in the game, we just lose our minds.”
Fourteen of the Royals’ initial 20 points were scored by Barhayiga and Ginuwine Tropnas, a duo that has been dynamic at times for LRSC.
But the Tetons grinded their way back into it. A 9-4 stretch helped them trim LRCS’s lead to 28-15, with seven of those points scored by Tyler Best. The 6-foot-6 freshman finished with 29 in the game.
“He’s such a good three-point shooter that he’s able to keep you off balance,” Marshall said. “You fly out there hoping he doesn’t hit a couple threes on ya, and then he gets downhill on you and makes plays. He’s tough, and he’s long. He’s physical. He has a nice inside-out, and we struggled to guard that.”
The Tetons then went on a 9-0 run, bringing the lead all the way down to 28-24. The Royals still managed to go to halftime with the momentum on their side, getting a little 7-0 run capped by a three from Harrison Raynor.
They scored the first five points of the second half as well, making it a 12-0 run and a 40-24 lead. But WSC wasn’t done. The Tetons scored 11 of the next 13 points, including seven straight by Mekhi Marks. LRSC was coasting with the lead for a while, keeping it at 51-38 and 55-46. The Tetons made it a four-point game again at 55-51, and the Royals brought it back to 60-51.
But the advantage continued to slip away in the latter part of the second half. After a shot by Alvin Jones Jr. kept LRSC up 62-54, WSC rattled off four straight free throws to get back within four points once again. The Royals had a scramble at the net where they got multiple rebounds but couldn’t tip it in. A shot by WSC’s Tyson Enget made it 62-60.
Drew Bordeaux briefly made it a fairly comfortable lead again, shooting a three to put the Royals up 65-61, but the Tetons overtook the lead with free throws from Best at about the 5:30 mark. From there, the teams traded leads back and forth — much like last Sunday’s game that LRSC also fell short in.
“We talked about being in this position at the beginning of the game in our pregame talk,” Marshall said. “One of the things is just changing our mindset about it. It’s not a ‘Oh no, here we go again’ kind of thing. It’s ‘Good, we have the lead again. Good. Let’s take advantage. They have to come back on us,’ instead of tightening up and thinking, ‘Oh no, here we go.’”
The Royals led 73-71, and the Tetons missed two free throw attempts that could have tied the game. But they kept getting rebounds and drawing fouls, and tied it up anyway on free throws by Rex Stirling. Benjamin Yombi gave WSC the lead with a layup, and Best made it 77-73 with 39.8 seconds left in the game.
Tropnas had a dunk with 32 seconds left to keep LRSC in it by the skin of its teeth at 77-75, but a pair of successful free throws by Yombi sealed the deal. All the Royals could do was form the handshake line and decompress after another hard-fought effort — another battle that didn’t have quite enough firepower.
“If I could fix it, I would,” Marshall said. “I don’t know how to settle us down and get us to do the things that we were doing to make us successful.”
LRSC will play next on Wednesday against Dawson Community College (17-4, 10-2) in Glendive, Mont. at 8:30 p.m.
Joseph “Mojo” Hill is a reporter covering Lake Region sports for the Devils Lake Journal. Contact him on Twitter @mojohill22 or at jhill@devilslakejournal.com for any tips, questions or story ideas.
