Albert Wellington (3), Ginuwine Tropnas (34)/Photos by Noah Clooten
DEVILS LAKE — When the Royals played Jamestown JV just a couple weeks ago, they lost 91-82.
But Lake Region State College men’s basketball, coming off a three-game losing streak, completely flipped the script Wednesday night at the Devils Lake Sports Center. The Royals (7-6) got off to a hot start and took down the Jimmies 92-74 to get back in the win column.
“Right from the jump, our energy and our effort and our intensity was night and day from that last game,” LRSC head coach Jared Marshall said. “Tonight, we really showed we were on a mission.”
A slow start to the second half aside, the Royals played a well-rounded game with a multitude of scorers and an improved defensive performance. Ginuwine Tropnas nearly had a double-double in the first half alone and finished with 23 rebounds to complement his 19 points. Bronson Chambers, Antonio Speed and Ron Lee also reached double-figure point totals.
“I think that goes to show our depth,” Marshall said. “It’s really nice when we can get different guys getting different points and really stepping up. And now when we kind of put it all together, we’re gonna be a tough team to stop.”
It was all Royals right from the start. The Jimmies were missing shots, and LRSC took advantage, scoring the first six points and jumping to an 18-4 lead. Poet Davis, Chambers, Akok Ajou and Tropnas all contributed to the early onslaught.
On a crowded roster, Mat Mudingay got a start for the second straight game. Mudingay is one of the four returners on this team.
“Mat’s shown a lot in practice with his defensive intensity and his defensive effort,” Marshall said. “Tonight it was: Take 11 out. Eleven’s their leading scorer; he’s averaging around 20 or so. And so his sole job on that is just to take 11 out of the game when he’s in there. And then Albert [Wellington] and Alvin [Payne] kind of help him with that… I thought he was a real spark for us to start the game. His intensity really got us going.”
Jamestown had a mini 5-0 run, but the Royals extended their lead to 27-11 with a 6-0 run fueled by an Ajou dunk. The bench roared with energy as he slammed it in there.
Davis also had a dunk, of the one-handed variety, to make it a 37-15 game at one point. The Jimmies finally hit a couple of threes to chip away a little bit, but a pair of put-backs by Tropnas ran the score up to 50-27. Tropnas had 12 rebounds and eight points in the first half.
“He brought a lot of energy tonight, and some of it was a little out of control,” Marshall said. “But when you’re getting 19 points and 23 rebounds, I’ll let it happen. I thought he was a real big catalyst, a real big spurt for us tonight.”
It was 50-29 at halftime — an especially good sign for a team that’s been allowing an average of more than 91 points per game.
But the second half got off to a more sluggish start. The Jimmies went on a 12-4 run to cut LRSC’s lead to 13. Chambers and Lee both missed long threes, and the Royals fell out of sync.
“If I had an answer, I think I’d be a better coach,” Marshall said. “But it’s [defense] definitely something we worked on in practice. This week, we did a drill where we played the last four of the first half and then the first four of the second half. And we’re trying to do things, because we recognize it’s something we’re not great at… I know, and the guys know, it’s a problem right now. We need to do better.”
Baskets by Tropnas and Remy Davis Warrington got LRSC going again. The Royals extended the lead back to 20 and stayed in comfortable position for the rest of the contest. The final was 92-74.
“The first half, we were dialed in,” Marshall said. “I thought we took our foot off the gas a little bit in the second half. We gave up 45. I would have liked to have seen us finish stronger than that. But when we want to be, we showed that we could be a really good defensive team, too.”
Of the 13 players who appeared in the game, all but Mudingay got in the points column. Davis fell cold in the second half, but Lee emerged with 11 points in the second half after none in the first. That’s the thing about this team, with its vastly wider array of scoring threats than last year: Anybody can step up.
The squad is still playing without Mitch Leas, who’s been on the bench dealing with a concussion. Both he and his sister Morgan Leas, who plays for the LRSC women, are out with injuries right now. But the Royals are healthy outside of Leas; the only other guy who isn’t playing is Jazayah Gates, who decided to redshirt and try to earn a chance to play next year.
That still leaves 13 active players — all of whom can bring significant contributions in a variety of ways. And it showed Wednesday night.
“I told them at halftime, I thought that was one of the best halves of basketball we’ve played all year,” Marshall said. “Just with our intensity and how we were getting the ball up and down the floor. We were sharing it. There wasn’t a lot of wasted dribbles or movement on offense. It was all popping.”
The win came ahead of Sunday’s contest against Turtle Mountain Community College, which is the last home game until Jan. 12.
