LRSC Handles TMCC at Holiday Inn Classic

LRSC Handles TMCC at Holiday Inn Classic

Article by Chris Harris, Devils Lake Journal Sports, November 25th, 2019

It was as easy as Sunday morning — or afternoon if you want to be specific.

Lake Region State College powered its way to a smooth 137-59 win over Turtle Mountain Community College Sunday, Nov. 24 to close out the Holiday Inn Express Classic from the Sports Center. The Royals, who lost their opener of the two-day event to Sheridan College on this past Saturday, concluded the weekend in a split.

"The first time around when we played them, we came out slow and we didn't really have a great start. So I really challenged them on Sunday to come out and get after them from the jump," said Royals head coach Jared Marshall.

The Royals, who played the Mikinocks two weeks ago this past Saturday during the Sleep Inn Classic, won that contest by 52. On Sunday, the Royals established their dominance early, jumping out to a 25-3 lead after a Leif Nelson (Devils Lake) 3-pointer with 14 minutes, 12 seconds on the clock in the first half. Back to back 3s by Medi Obang and Daveonte Davis gave the Royals the 34-7 advantage and just kept piling on from there.

"We didn't mess around and that's what we needed to do. Everybody got in on the action."

Eight players had at least 10 points, two others were three points shy of the double digit mark. Obang led all scorers with 26 points, going 10-for-17 from the field. Myles Arnold scored 16 points and both Dion Ford and Steven Rwahwire had 15 points each. Ford had nine rebounds and Rwahwire had nine assists.

Davis finished with 14 points and seven rebounds and both Kolton Vetter and Beau Feltman each scored 12 points for the Royals (5-5) whose bench scored 74 points for the game.

"Everybody played well and I thought our defensive intensity was where needed to be for most of the game," Marshall said. The Royals held Turtle Mountain Community to just 27.4 percent shooting for the contest, down 5.5 percent from their previous meeting.

The Royals shot 69 percent in the first half to build a 68-27 halftime advantage. They hit the century mark with 10 minutes left in the game.

Next up for the Royals is Bryant & Stratton College and unbeaten Otero Junior College in the Williston State Classic on Friday and Saturday respectively.

"It's good to get this heading into a tough stretch," Marshall said.

Tanner Keplin and Hunter Gladue each scored 13 points and Kieler Counts had 12 points and 10 rebounds to pace Turtle Mountain.