Late Run Propels Royals to Victory

Article by Chris Harris, Devils Lake Journal Sports, January 14th, 2019

Lake Region State College saw its lead dwindle down to nothing. Yet, head coach Jared Marshall mixed the right ingredients and cooked up a win.

Led by the inside presence of Lamarr Wood and timely play from the bench, the Royals defeated Dawson Community College 93-82 to open MonDak play at 2-0.

"Basketball is a game of runs and they're a tough team," Marshall said about his team giving up 14 point lead to open the game. "They are a tough, well coached team and they have good depth. We relaxed a little bit."

Wood scored 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field. He also grabbed nine rebounds. But in the second half, when the Buccaneers (10-8, 1-1 MonDak) looked to regain momentum, the Royals bench re-seized the game.

"(Dawson) had it to two and our bench was in. They pumped it to 12 and I told them after the game that it was them," Marshall said.

After a 3-pointer by Dawson's CJ Nelson cut the Royals (14-5) lead to 60-58 with 11:34 remaining in the game, LRSC went on a 10-0 run, punctuated by an Akeen Woods free throw with just over six minutes left on the clock. The Royals led 70-58.

"Big tribute to our bench but it's also a tribute to our guys and our toughness. No matter how bad things got or how close it got we just maintained it," said Marshall.

Jordan Lynn scored 20 points, had 11 rebounds and seven assists and TJ Mickelson added 17 points and four assists for the Royals who will be on the road Thursday, Jan. 17 to face Miles Community College.

Nelson came off of the bench to score a game-high 38 points, connecting on seven 3s, for Dawson Community, which saw its win streak end at six games.