Lake Region State's Clarence Daniels named to NJCAA All-Star Team

DEVILS LAKE – Clarence Daniels was on a lunch break when he heard the news.

Of course, the news could have pertained to anything, given his involvement in the classroom and with the basketball team at Lake Region State College. The latter, in particular, was what the news pertained to, and in a big way. The 6-foot-6 forward was one of 24 participants named to the NJCAA All-Star Team on April 13.

Daniels is the first-ever Lake Region State player to make the team and was one of 12 Division I NJCAA players to make the roster. Daniels was additionally named an NJCAA All-American on April 8 and was the first Royal since 2008 to be named All-American (Travis Mertens).

“I was ecstatic, honestly,” Daniels said. “I didn’t really know how to feel at the time. I was surprised. I was excited.”

The reasoning for Daniels’ selection was a simple one. In 32 games played (31 GS), Daniels averaged 20.5 points per game (PPG) and 11.1 rebounds per game (RPG). His 20.5 PPG and 53.8 field goal percentage (FG%) led all 11 players on the team. Daniels failed to tally 10 points or more in only three games during the 2021-22 season (nine against Northland Community & Technical College on Nov. 16, five against Western Wyoming Community College on Nov. 27 and nine against United Tribes Technical College on Feb. 10).

Lake Region State head coach Jared Marshall was as ecstatic as Daniels when he heard the news.

“Being he is our first All-American in 14 years since Travis Mertens, it’s a big honor,” Marshall said. “All-American is great, and being one of 12 guys in the nation to get to play in the All-Star game is pretty awesome, too. We had never had it, so I wasn’t sure if he would get it or not, and I was pretty fired up for him, too.”

Daniels’ journey from starting regular to all-star was a character-building one. Although he had the physical tools to succeed during the 2021-22 campaign, Daniels, in his mind, needed guidance to make his offensive and defensive talents pop out in the best way possible. And not just pop out in a way that would help the team succeed, mind you. With other colleges scouting, Daniels needed to be sure his skill arsenal showed off for them, too.

The predicament wasn’t one Marshall couldn’t help Daniels solve.

Since his time scouting and recruiting Daniels himself, Marshall knew the forward had what it took to thrive in a system emphasizing pace and prioritizing a two-way mindset on both ends of the floor.

Marshall’s mentorship, combined with Daniels’ persistence, helped the latter succeed even more as the season progressed. After averaging 17.0 PPG through the first two months (15 GP), Daniels averaged 23.2 PPG over the final 18 games (Jan-Feb.), dating back to Jan. 5.

To Marshall, Daniels started to excel even more once he drowned out the background noise.

“Once you fall into that realization and you stop worrying about chasing things and let them come to you, I think that makes a huge difference,” Marshall said. “I think that was a big change.”

“I told myself, I feel like at the beginning of the year I really cared about what schools were contacting me,” Daniels said. “I had to average this. I had to do this. I told myself before the first game I am just going to play hard, and I don’t care what else happens. Ever since then, good things just happened. I started putting up numbers scoring-wise and in rebounding.”

In Marshall’s mind, Daniels’ ability to listen was a defining characteristic that morphed a high-octane athlete into an all-star caliber player ready to take the next step in his college basketball career.

“It’s a lot of credit to him to be able to be coachable like that where I can be hard on him, or I could pull him for a bad shot, bad decision, or whatever it was,” Marshall said. “He also understood as a player what the problem was and what he needed to do better at. I think that is a huge thing, having that self-awareness. A lot of kids don’t have self-awareness in certain situations, and I think that is something that Clarence has.”

Daniels will continue his academic and college basketball career at the University of New Hampshire and will look back at his brief Lake Region State career with pride.

More importantly, Daniels will look to show his all-star capabilities at a school eager to give him a fresh opportunity.

“As time went on, I thought about it…I want to go to a school where I felt the same way out here, where I feel like I am going to be needed and I am going to have a big role. They were one of the first schools to throw an offer at me, so I didn’t want to go to a school and sit on somebody’s bench…I wanted to make an impact, and I feel like New Hampshire was the best spot.”

The NJCAA Hall of Fame Banquet will be held on May 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will honor all participants, including Daniels. The NJCAA All-Star Game will tip off the next day at 4:30 p.m. PT.

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

This article originally appeared on Devils Lake Journal: LRSC Clarence Daniels makes history with NJCAA All-Star selection