LRSC men pick up first victory of 2016 against Concordia JV

By Sam Herder, Devils Lake Journal Sports, Published Jan. 4, 2016.

After going more than three weeks without game action, the Lake Region State College men's basketball team picked up win number 15 to start the new year. The Royals defeated Concordia JV 85-77 Sunday in the Sports Center.

LRSC is now 15-3 and heading into the conference season.

As expected, the first game back from winter break showed signs of rust. The Royals and Cobbers went back and forth as points were hard to come by to start the game.

"You come in and you know it's not going to be pretty," Royals head coach Jared Marshall said. "But I thought we did a lot of good things. A lot of guys scoring again. We held them on the rebounding. That's a good team. Last time they lit us up on the three and we guarded the three better this game I thought. It's never going to be pretty and I don't think they're going to be pretty from here on out, whether we're coming off break or not. It's just kind of who we are and what we are and we're figuring that out. I'll take a good win over a pretty loss any day."

LRSC began to roll with four quick points via Tom Kubank, including a two-handed dunk to bring some energy for the Royals.

A Dawson Peterson 3-pointer gave the Royals a 22-16 lead, but Concordia JV brought it back to a 26-26 tie with six minutes to go in the first half.

That theme would remain the same the rest of the game, as LRSC would build a lead but only to let the Cobbers back into it.

With a 38-37 edge at halftime, the Royals' offense exploded in the opening minutes of the second half. 

AJ Nywesh got it going with an early 3-pointer. A 6-0 run a little later gave the Royals a 54-41 lead, capped off by another Nywesh 3-pointer.

"That was really when we started to get it done," Marshall said. "We're such a good shooting team. First half it was 2-for-17 from three, and the second half was much better. That shows we can get it done. I told them they'll start falling. We're a confident shooting team."

LRSC looked to run away with the game with its hot offense, building leads of 65-50 and later 73-68 with 10 minutes to play.

But the Cobbers began narrowing the deficit with short runs. The lead was trimmed to 77-73 with less than two minutes to play.

LRSC put the ball in Nywesh's hand. The sophomore hit seven free throws in the final minutes to earn the 85-77 victory.

"This win gets us going," Marshall said. "Williston will be tough Thursday. It gets us ready for MonDak. That's a good team we played and it gets us settled."

The Royals now begin conference season with their only three losses coming to ranked teams Iowa Western and Gillette College.

"Honestly I thought we were going to be pretty good with those four sophomores returning and they're playing amazing," Marshall said. "I thought we could be here and I'm happy we are here."