Basketball journey continues for Jayden Yankton, Jacolby Pearson with recent commitments

FORT TOTTEN – The Four Winds/Minnewaukan Indians had a memorable journey during the 2021-22 season.

An undefeated campaign during the regular season was swiftly followed up with an equally scorching postseason run, beginning with the District 7 Tournament. The Indians, over eight total postseason games (including the District 7 Tournament, Region IV Tournament and State Tournament), not only took home District 7 and Region IV honors but additionally ran the gauntlet during the 2022 NDHSAA Class B Boys Basketball State Tournament en route to the team’s first state championship since the 2015-16 season.

Although the team’s 2021-22 journey ended with joyful tears and blissful memories, Jayden Yankton and Jacolby Pearson have started a new adventure. After all, both Yankton and Pearson committed to United Tribes Technical College and Bismarck State College, respectively, on April 23.

Four Winds/Minnewaukan head coach Rick Smith has watched the duo grow before his eyes. However, each player’s development has taken a different (yet not any less critical) path compared to the other.

In the case of Pearson, Smith started to see strides toward stardom during his junior year. Although he predominantly played behind many others (including Yankton), Pearson remained patient and refined his game to be more supplemental to those ahead of him on the depth chart.

To Smith, this change only helped set up Pearson for the better.

“He [Pearson] probably would have been a superstar on another team, but he was on a successful program that had six seniors that played before him, and then you add Jayden [Yankton] that played before him,” Smith said. “So, it was actually seven kids that played before him, so he didn’t get the playing time he probably should have gotten. That just showed what kind of a team basketball player Jacolby was.”

From his development as a junior, Pearson thrived at the highest level as a senior. In Four Winds/Minnewaukan’s eight postseason games dating back to the District 7 Tournament, Pearson averaged 15 points per game (PPG).

Pearson’s consistency revolved back to playing team basketball, even after becoming more of a focal point when it counted the most.

“Then, this year, knowing that, OK, it’s my turn now,” Smith said. “The improvement that he did in his game…the work ethic for Jacolby is outstanding. Leadership for Jacolby is outstanding. [The] team basketball player for Jacolby is just outstanding. He is competitive, even though it is a really laid back competitive in him…he’s not the fastest guy out there [and] doesn’t jump the highest, but he is that type of player that will just lull you to sleep, and when you close your eyes, he’s got you. I think he is going to bring a lot of different skills to the BSC program.”

Yankton’s development, meanwhile, predominantly came on the leadership side. Any Four Winds/Minnewaukan fan understood Yankton’s ability to captain a floor. However, how would Yankton step up into a leadership role without Keldon Keja, Bronson Walter or Jaeshaun Shaw to do the bulk of the heavy lifting?

And so, Yankton’s role had to expand on the floor and in the locker room.

“So, when everybody was gone…and it was just him there this year…I think he had so many questions in his mind about how good is this team going to be,” Smith said. “This is going to be a change for me. He and I had some good talks, and we talked about this team. We talked about his leadership skills, and we talked about what it is going to take for us to get to the next level, and you are going to have to do more than just score points. You are going to have to do all kinds of stuff.”

And do all kinds of stuff Yankton did ten-fold.

The senior in Yankton not only scored at his usually consistent pace – he averaged 21 PPG in eight postseason games played – but became more prevalent on the intangible end.

To Smith, these intangible factors involved staying positive. This positive flow from Yankton, in turn, trickled down to players around him through the state tournament.

In other words, precisely the mentality and attitude a leader should possess.

“You look at the state tournament,” Smith said. “They tried to take the ball out of his [Yankton’s] hands. He didn’t score a lot of points. His other stats went up, and then [he] got into foul trouble the second game, and his head stayed positive. Positive, positive and positive. And, the last game, when we needed a bunch of scoring, well, there he was. His scoring game is always going to be there, but his other stuff stood out way more to me than his scoring ability, and that showed so much in the state tournament.”

Although the Indians’ 2021-22 journey has since concluded, the likes of Pearson and Yankton will continue onward.

Perhaps each journey will have quite the spectacle to it, too.

Contact John Crane via email (jcrane@gannett.com) or Twitter @johncranesports)

This article originally appeared on Devils Lake Journal: Jacolby Pearson, Jayden Yankton commit to NJCAA programs