Caldwell, ID. | Warner Pacific faced the University of Montana-Western on Saturday afternoon on day two of the Clearwater River and Casino Classic. The Knights come back to Portland with a 73-57 victory under their belt.
Junior Kadeem Strickland led all players with 25 points, scoring all but one from beyond the arc. Strickland shot for 57% from the 3-point line on the night.
After five minutes of play, the Bulldogs and Knights were tied at 11; to take the lead, Strickland sunk the first of his eight threes. Warner Pac held the lead for the remainder of the competition. Montana Western kept it tight throughout the first half, but WPU began to pull away in the last 5 minutes of the first 20, managing to head into the break with a 41-29 lead.
Coming out of the break, WPU entered a temporary shooting slump, going 0-3 in the first three minutes, but as was the story for the night, their 3-point shooting took over. After a couple of buckets by Senior Kendall Watson, the 3's started to fall for JD Esters, Kaleb Tompkins, Morris Bethea and of course, Kadeem Strickland.
Maintaining the lead since the 15:31 mark in the first half, the Knights pulled away with a 16-point victory over Montana Western to head home with a 3-2 record.
As a team, the Knights shot 43.9% from the arc. JD Esters added 15 points and 6 assists for WPU and Kendall Watson contributed 10 points and 7 boards.
The Knights will be back in action on Friday, November 15
th as they head to Monmouth, Oregon to face the Wolves of Western Oregon. The game is set for 7pm.