Photo by Noah Clooten
Four Winds’ Dalen Leftbear is coming closer to home.
The Lake Region State College men’s basketball team announced Thursday that Leftbear is transferring to LRSC.
Leftbear spent his freshman season with a fellow Mon-Dak team, United Tribes Technical College. He played in 29 games for the Thunderbirds, averaging 8.9 points per game. He added 3.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He shot 51.9% from the floor, totaling 257 points on the season.
UTTC went 12-17 overall and 7-7 in conference games. That included two wins over LRSC, Leftbear’s new school. Leftbear scored 14 points in a 95-87 win over the Royals on Jan. 26 and 13 points in a 102-98 win over the Royals on Feb. 24.
The Thunderbirds lost 104-100 in the Region 13 semifinals to Gogebic Community College to end their season.
Leftbear, originally a Tokio, North Dakota, native, was a standout player for Four Winds/Minnewaukan. He starred alongside Deng Deng — who’s also his cousin — on the 2023-24 team that was ranked in the top five in Class A for most of the year. Indians coach Rick Smith often referred to him as the unsung hero of that team.
Leftbear will now join a Royals squad that plays just a 20-minute drive from the Spirit Lake Reservation. He’ll play alongside Elijah Feather Jr., a fellow Tokio native who had an impressive career for Warwick High School and is entering his freshman year.
LRSC went 16-16 overall and 7-7 in conference play this past season. It was a drastic improvement from the previous two seasons, during which it won just 12 total games. The Royals won a playoff game over Bismarck State College, 91-87, before falling to 99-68 to Williston State College in the Region 13 semifinals.
