The Lake Region State College basketball teams completed their regular season on the road against Bismarck State College on Sunday. The women finished their season with an 81-69 win, while the men couldn’t follow up Wednesday’s impressive victory and fell just short, 89-86.
The lady Royals made 44.3% of their field goal attempts en route to their best offensive performance of the season. They were fueled by bench contributions: Anisah Wolf scored 15 points, while Arden Faulkner had 14 and Nicole Lillard had 12. Tiyahna Trottier and Brooke Kleinig each reached double digits as well with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
LRSC led by 14 at the end of the first quarter and played a fairly even game after that, but it was already a comfortable enough lead for it to hold on and finish the regular season on a positive note. It was particularly encouraging considering that the Royals are usually more of a defense-minded team, and they’re going to need some offense if they want to make a playoff run.
As the third-place team in the Mon-Dak Athletic Conference, LRSC will host a playoff game on Wednesday. The time and opponent are still to be announced. But it was a successful season for the Royals; they went 19-11 overall and 12-9 in conference games.
The men, in a way, completed their campaign in a manner that embodies the inconsistency that plagued them all season. A game after upsetting the second-place team in the conference, they lost to the only team with a worse record than them.
It wasn’t without a fight, though. The Royals brought the Mystics to double overtime and lost by three after a neck-and-neck contest all the way through. LRSC trailed 35-34 at halftime, outscored BSC 38-37 in the second half, then went an even 8-8 in overtime before getting outmatched 9-6 in the second overtime period.
Blessed Barhayiga, who’s consistently been LRSC’s best player throughout the season, had one of his best performances with 32 points and 11 rebounds. Ginuwine Tropnas had 12 rebounds, while Mitch Leas had 15 points off the bench. The Royals also got double-digit point totals from Noah Bonick and Mat Mudingay. They had a higher shooting percentage than the Mystics — 45.2 to 41 — a higher free throw percentage and more rebounds.
But it wasn’t enough.
LRSC was plagued by 20 turnovers, compared to only 10 on the other side. It’s an area that has hurt the Royals countless times this season.
The loss gave LRSC an even conference record with BSC at 5-16. The Mystics have a slightly better overall record (10-20 vs. 9-21), so the Royals moved down to last place.
They’re scheduled for an away playoff game against Miles Community College (14-16, 10-11) on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
