Dalen Leftbear (Photo by Noah Clooten)
After rostering 15 players last season, the Lake Region State College men’s basketball team has 17 on its squad heading into the 2025-26 school year.
Twelve of those players are new.
Among the dozen-player recruiting class, six are from North Dakota while four are from other countries. The remaining two are from Minnesota and Michigan.
Two of the most local players in the class are sophomores: Dalen Leftbear and Dane Hagler.
Leftbear, a Four Winds alum, joins the Royals after spending one year with United Tribes Technical College. Leftbear appeared in 29 games for the Thunderbirds and started 14. He averaged 8.9 points in about 22 minutes of playing time per game. UTTC, which competes in the Mon-Dak alongside LRSC, went 12-17 overall and 7-7 in conference play.
Hagler, a North Star alum, will also join the basketball team. He transferred to LRSC from Jamestown during his freshman year. Hagler went on to play baseball for the Royals last spring, but this will be his first season of college basketball. The multi-sport star scored more than 2,000 points during his North Star career.
The Royals also add recent Warwick graduate Elijah Feather Jr. He accumulated more than 1,000 points in his high school career and was named the Class B, Region 2 Senior Athlete of the Year this past winter. He and Leftbear are both from Tokio, N.D., on the Spirit Lake Reservation.
Another notable in-state addition is Brennan Johnson from Tioga, N.D. Johnson, who’s 6-foot-8, put up state-high marks of 27.8 points and 17.8 rebounds per game. He was the District 5 Senior Athlete of the Year and an all-state selection. Johnson is also on the baseball team with Hagler.
Little Hail Perkins joins LRSC from White Shield, N.D. He played basketball for Garrison, with whom he put up 23.7 points per game this past season. He was the Region 4 Senior Athlete of the Year and an all-state pick.
The final North Dakotan in the class is Lance Bradley. The Fort Yates native averaged 20.1 points per game for Standing Rock in his senior year.
The lone Minnesotan in this year’s class is Jeremiah Johnson from Albertville, Minn. He went to St. Michael-Albertville High School, where he posted 17.3 points per game as a senior. He totaled 1,180 points in his high school career.
Derrick Lee Jr., from Novi, Mich., is a notable transfer addition. He graduated high school back in 2023, then went to Bradenton, Fla., to play for the IMG Academy post-grad team. He averaged 12.3 points per game there, shooting 52% from the field and 42% from three. Lee Jr. went on to Division-I Kent State University, where he redshirted and entered the transfer portal.
That all led him to LRSC in Devils Lake, N.D. He still has four years of college eligibility.
The remaining four additions are from other countries. Two come from Australia, continuing a well-established pipeline. The other two are from a pair of African countries.
Ashton Munro is a 6-foot-6 forward from Sydney, Australia. He averaged 26 points per game last season. Cooper Adams, from Queensland, Australia, averaged 17 points per game and shot 37% from three-point range last year.
The recruiting class is rounded out by a pair of 6-foot-11 African centers.
Mademba Mody Ndir, from Dakar, Senegal, was still uncommitted as recently as June. A post from Gryphus Sports on X says he was born in February 2003 and that he’s an “athletic center with good hands.”
Luck Nathan Messi, originally from Yaounde, Cameroon, spent last year with Alma College in Alma, Quebec. He previously trained with Lena Basketball Academy.
Like last season, the Royals should have a crowded bunch of players on their bench. Key players like Alvin Payne and Akok Ajou remain with the team. Minneapolis native Jazayah Gates, who opted to redshirt with LRSC last year, is now on the roster as an active player.
Last year’s team went 17-17 overall, 9-6 in region play and 7-7 in conference play. It was a strong rebound from the previous two seasons, in which the Royals won just 12 games combined.
There should be plenty of storylines to follow with this squad, especially in terms of who gets the lion’s share of the playing time. A wealth of local talent, along with a D-I transfer and multiple international guys, makes for a pretty fascinating and competitive mix.
