Royals Can't Shake Off Rust Against Rainy River

The Lake Region State College Royals basketball team took on Rainy River Wednesday night at the Sportscenter. The Voyageurs came into the matchup with an 8-2 record, while the home team was 12-5.

Early in the first half the Royals looked like they were going to be just fine with both teams playing back and forth basketball. It was not until a late run by the Voyageurs gave them a 33-28 lead with 4 minutes to go in the first. In the second half Rainy River would use 19 Royals turnovers on the game to extend their lead 58-44 with 14 minutes left in the game. Lake Region would go on an 11-6 run to cut the lead to 9. That however was as close as they would get, the Voyageurs would make an 8-0 run of their own out of the timeout and never look back. The final Rainy River 91 Lake Region State 70.

Shooting and rebounding woes would plague the Royals throughout the game. LRSC would shoot 38% from the field and 23% from behind the arc. Despite the size advantage of the Royals, the Voyageurs would out rebound the home team 54-48. Cedric Boone would lead the Royals in scoring with 21 points. Alex Weston had 12 points to go along with 7 rebounds and Drew Thielges provided a spark off the bench for the Royals in the first half scoring all 10 of his points then.  

Toughness was the word Head Coach Jared Marshall used when describing what his team needed to win the game. "I told my team before the game that the tougher team was going to win tonight. That was not us. We just did not have the overall energy or intensity required to win. I was disappointed to see that in our first game coming out of break. With MonDak play starting this week, we need to dig deep and find ourselves."

With the loss, the Royals are now 12-6 on the season. On Sunday, they will open MonDak Conference play against Bismarck State College 3pm at the Sportscenter.

Go Royals!