Photo by Mojo Hill
DEVILS LAKE — The Lake Region State College men’s basketball team is on a five-game roll.
In the Royals’ last home action before the new year, they beat Mayville State JV 110-80 Wednesday night at the Devils Lake Sports Center. Twelve players scored for LRSC, including Jeremiah Johnson with 20 and five other Royals in double figures.
The Royals (6-2) overcame 24 turnovers, which was even with the Comets.
“I never felt like we did shore that up,” LRSC head coach Jared Marshall said. “We had 24 tonight, and I’d say at least half those were just kind of unforced. … We’ll live with the ones where we’re trying to go full-court and be aggressive and do that. I’ve told them we’ll always take those. … Whenever we’re getting a stop and we turn it back over, it’s just a detriment. It’s really hard to build leads.”
LRSC turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, helping the Comets stay in it. It was tied at 16-16.
Down 31-30, the Comets were a free throw away from tying it again.
The Royals got their own turnover and capitalized on a drive to the basket from Quyavant Douglas. It catapulted into an 11-0 run to give LRSC some ground. Amidst that stretch, Albert Wellington found the basket while falling down.
Johnson stepped up in the first half with 11 off the bench.
“His demeanor off the bench and his scoring and his capability,” Marshall said of what impresses him about Johnson. “He’s tough to guard. And that’s exactly what we were hoping when we brought him in, just to have another guy that can bring juice.”
Starter Remy Davis Warrington went 6-of-9 from the line in the first half to score 10 points. His 15 points overall were tied for second on the team with Akok Ajou. After a bench role last year, he ranks second on the squad in points per game.
“I thought he really went home this summer and he got a lot better,” Marshall said of Warrington. “He’s somebody that we really count on to run the show. The speed that he plays with forces everybody to play with him. And he’s kind of our catalyst.
“I thought that was a small thing in the first half that most people wouldn’t notice, is Remy was throwing the ball in when he shouldn’t have been. And I thought that was a big reason why we weren’t getting up the court in a hurry, because he was throwing the ball in. … We had to make an adjustment to emphasize other guys getting it.”
Up 46-34 at the half, LRSC let Mayville State squeeze the lead back to seven early in the second half.
The teams traded threes to open the period. Warrington and Cooper Adams both knocked down triples to help stretch the gap back to double digits.
LRSC missed a string of three-ball attempts. Ajou and Dalen Leftbear had put-backs on two of them to help give the Royals some space. They took off from there, growing their lead into the 20s.
“I didn’t like our pace in the first half. I thought we were kind of slow,” Marshall said. “But when we blew the thing open, we were able to get stops, transition points. Really get the guys working full-court.”
LRSC dominated Mayville State on the boards all game long. The Royals outrebounded the Comets 55-26, and had the edge in that department even when Mayville State was hanging around.
Leftbear had a team-high 11 rebounds to snatch a double-double.
“We kind of had the advantage height-wise,” Marshall said. “But I did like how aggressive we were. Especially Dalen. … He went up and got ‘em. And that’s been a point of emphasis for us, is to go make contact, go find bodies, go get the ball. And still not where I want it to be, but it’s a step in the right direction.”
Adams also reached a double-figure point total after only scoring two in the first half. The Royals’ depth continued to be a linchpin of its early success — even with an off-night from Alvin Payne.
LRSC looks to keep its five-game win streak going in St. Paul, Minn., on Friday against Hamline University JV. Including that game, the Royals have six more road games before Christmas break. They’ll return home on Jan. 2 to host Gillette College.
Conference play doesn’t start until Jan. 8 — still nearly two months away. But the early signs for this team are promising.
“I just like how we play as a team,” Marshall said. “These guys, from start to finish, they’re genuinely happy for each other. They’re engaged. Our bench energy is good, and everybody’s ready for their opportunities. And I think that’s been the key, is everybody is engaged, and we have just a really good team camaraderie.”
