Remy Davis Warrington (Photo by Noah Clooten)
DEVILS LAKE — It sure didn’t come as easily as last week’s 111-68 win.
But a victory is a victory. Lake Region State College men’s basketball (16-15) won its first-round playoff game on Sunday, winning 91-87 in overtime against Bismarck State College (10-20) at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
Exactly a week after putting up 111 points in regulation against the same team, the Royals only scored 32 in the first half and trailed for most of the second half. But a buzzer-beating three by Remy Davis Warrington kept them alive, and they took care of business in the overtime period to advance to the next round.
“We found a way,” LRSC head coach Jared Marshall said. “That was my worry all week, is we’d take this game a little light. And I thought we did. We didn’t come out with the fire and the passion we did last week. And credit to them for battling and playing tough.”
The first few minutes were particularly sparse scoring-wise for the Royals. All their big players were healthy and starting, but the shots weren’t landing. Three minutes and 39 seconds into the game, they trailed 6-2.
“I just felt like our aggressiveness wasn’t there,” Marshall said. “We weren’t pushing the ball. We let them stall us out. We weren’t getting any steals and transition buckets to help ourselves out.”
LRSC’s second basket didn’t come until over four minutes in. But, after a clumsy turnover off the foot of the Mystics’ point guard, Akok Ajou sprinted in and slammed a two-handed dunk. He tied it at six apiece.
The next six points went to BSC. Baskets by Ajou and Poet Davis made it a two-point game, though, and Davis swished a go-ahead three to make it 13-12.
The teams traded leads six times after that in the half. It was a grind for the Royals, whose most potent first-half scorer was Ajou with eight. Bronson Chambers didn’t have his first points until late, when he tied it at 28-28.
LRSC muscled ahead 32-30 on a basket by Chambers at the end of the half. It was a far cry from the type of offensive showing these same Royals put up a week ago.
It was a continuous series of lead changes in the second half. BSC opened the half with an and-one — the first of 11 advantage switches in the latter period.
Ajou and Ginuwine Tropnas both had go-ahead put-backs, with Tropnas’s coming in particularly clutch after Davis missed a layup. Davis hit a deep three to give the Royals a 43-39 lead.
BSC responded with eight straight. William Ware dunked the ball and hung off the rim as he tied it up and propelled the Mystics into a 47-43 advantage.
A basket by Chambers and an and-one from Tropnas got LRSC back ahead, 48-47. The teams traded go-ahead threes, with Davis making another one from downtown.
But the Mystics just kept attacking. They hit another go-ahead three, and Chambers missed two free throws with a chance to tie it.
Down 59-55, Payne also missed a pair of free throws. The Royals took a timeout with 3:29 left with their deficit all the way up to 65-58.
Tropnas was a big catalyst in getting LRSC back into this game. He scored six straight Royals points, putting up 14 in the second half after only three in the first.
A basket by Davis Warrington got them within one, 67-66, with less than a minute left. Then began the parade of timeouts, fouls and free throws. BSC went 4-of-6 from the line down the stretch. With as little as 12.4 seconds left, the Royals trailed by four.
But Ajou kept them in it. Now at 71-69 with 5.4 seconds left, the Mystics made the first free throw attempt, after which LRSC took a timeout.
They missed the free throw after the break, which likely would have sealed the game had it gone in. But it gave the Royals a very brief chance to do something special. They had to get it down the court urgently — and sure enough, Davis Warrington found a chance to get a clean shot off. It went in the net, and the Royals erupted in celebration with the game still alive at the end of regulation.
“We talked about spotting up off of it and just finding an opening, and he did that,” Marshall said. “And credit to him for stepping up and making a big shot when we needed him.”
With the energy suddenly at a high, it looked like a different LRSC team in overtime. It scored seven rapid points, with two baskets from Payne and one each from Davis and Tropnas.
“Once [Warrington] hit that shot, we were believing,” Marshall said. “We knew we were gonna get it.”
Still, the Mystics didn’t completely go away just yet. Three-pointers cut the lead to 85-82 and 89-87.
But when the Mystics fouled, the Royals took advantage. Davis came up huge from the line, going 8-of-8 in the overtime period and 12-of-12 overall. Outside of Davis, LRSC was only 9-of-20 from the stripe.
“I thought it was gonna be another game where that kind of bit us,” Marshall said. “And thank goodness Poet stepped up and knocked them down big-time down the stretch.”
The Royals held on for a four-point win.
Now they’ll face No. 2-seeded Williston State College on Wednesday.
“A team we’ve beat, and they’ve beat us, and it’s gonna be another battle,” Marshall said. “If we don’t get stops, if we come out slow like we did today, they’re gonna put it on us. And I think it’s been about since 2008 we’ve played for the region championship, so we’re hoping to be the first time in 16, 17 years to do that.”
