Royals Start Off Season with Win Over Williston

Article by Jack Williams, Devils Lake Journal Sports, January 20th, 2021.

It's been a long time coming for the Royals. After limited summer court time, a season postponement to January 2021, and nine combined scrimmages, both Lake Region State College men's and women's teams opened their seasons up against Williston State at the Sports Center. While neither team hasn't played a competitive game in 10 months, neither squad wasted time in getting back into the groove of things.

In the men's game, the Royals had come to a crossroads early: play into the Tetons' heavy fouling or take advantage of the situation. In the first half alone, Williston State was already out fouling the Royals 23-14 and had three players who had already committed three. It took a bit for LRSC to find its ground but we're able to build a 12 point advantage going into halftime, highlighted by a halfcourt buzzer-beater by freshman guard Carson Henningsgard. 

From there, the Royals began to capitalize on the Tetons' mistakes, seeing them continue to fall into foul trouble and eventually run out of players. With Williston State becoming more and more limited after each whistle, the Royals would charge forward to drain 52 points in the second half and break five players into double figures. 

"That's a great way to start the season after not being able to play a lot of games," Royals head coach Jared Marshall said. "We really came out and set the tone defensively. I thought we guarded really well and got a lot of contributions from a lot of different guys. We didn't finish as strong as I wanted, but overall I'm jacked with how we played." 

As a result of the Tetons committing 44 personal fouls on the night, the Royals set up camp at the line, shooting 32-54 on the night. Henningsgard would lead that effort, shooting 10-17 from the charity stripe on the night. Shooting 11-26 at halftime, the Royals would up only miss seven shots in the second half from close, shooting 21-28 after halftime. Marshall said at halftime his team knew that if they cleaned up their shooting at that the game would open up.

"That was something that we emphasized at halftime that we just needed to relax out there and make them," Marshall said. "It was the reason we grew the lead to 30. We made stops and free throws."

To add to the Royals' momentum swing heading into the second half, Henningsgard's halfcourt buzzer-beater heading into the locker room would only fuel the Royals fire more. Henningsgard would pick up the bulk of his points at the line and driving the net, but didn't really let it rip from deep. He would finish the night shooting 1-3 from deep, but the lone make came from way outside the line.

"I didn't really have a lot of shots go down, so it was nice to see that one go through, Henningsgard said. "It helped us get some momentum going in the second half." 

Relaxing into the game was one of the major points into the Royals' second-half surge. As LRSC began to build and get comfortable with a sizable lead, guys on the court began to catch fire, adding to the overall tally. One Royal who lit up from deep was freshman guard Ben Hoverson. After going 0-2 from 3-point range in the second half, Hoverson drained a team-high 5-7 3-balls for 18 points on the night. When a Royal caught lightning in a bottle on Wednesday night, the others made sure to energize the current for as long as they could. 

"Ben was hot, so we found him and that was key for us to extend the lead," Henningsgard said. "We turned the ball over a bit towards the end there, but we just need to sharpen that up." 

Among the handful of leading margins, the Royals had on the stat sheet, on they weren't looking to lead in was turnovers. The Royals narrowly held the turnover disadvantage to the Tetons, as the fine stretch of the game would knock LRSC's turnover number to 28 compared to Williston State's 26. However, the Royals continue the effort, to stay cool and have the Tetons commit their own mistakes, which ended up outweighing the high turnover number. 

"There wasn't a huge adjustment at halftime, but we just relaxed more and took advantage of them overplaying," Marshall said. "We didn't get into our offense a ton tonight, but we really didn't need to because they were able to get in and get at the hoop a lot." 

After building a sound lead in the second half, the Royals were able to empty the bench and get the entire roster in on the action. Two players who saw their first action playing basketball in the United States were freshman center Trace Evans, from New Castle, Australia, and Djordje Mitrovic from Novi Sad, Serbia. Evans had a strong impact in the paint from tip-off as he would rack up 17 points and fall one rebound short of a double-double in the finish. Mitrovic also played a role in the late rebounding game, collecting five on the night. 

"If Truck [Evans] hadn't gotten into foul trouble, I might've played him more and he would've gotten that double-double," Marshall said. "Djordje brought us some good minutes off the bench, so those two guys are adjusting well. Truck's going to be a force because there aren't a lot of dudes that are that size in the league and there was no one to stop him tonight." 

After a 9-22 finish last season, the Royals' performance against the Tetons on Wednesday night puts them back where they want to be. Last season, LRSC lost to Williston State on the same court by 36. Almost a whole year and a global pandemic later, the tables have been turned in favor of the Royals. LRSC will join the women's squad Friday in heading south to take on North Dakota State College of Science. 

"It's not Lake Region basketball how we played last year, but this is how I want to be," Marshall said. "We want to be guarding our butts off and really be spreading the ball out and playing team basketball. You couldn't ask for a better start to the season."