LEWISTON, Idaho – A rare seven-point possession was part of a 19-point run early in the second half to help the Lewis-Clark State College Men’s Basketball team overcome a cold-shooting start and defeat Yellowstone Christian 62-40 at the LC Activity Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors, ranked fourth in the NAIA, led 26-25 with about 18 minutes left and used the 19-0 run over the next six minutes to take control of the game. Yellowstone Christian couldn’t get closer than 16 the rest of the way against LC’s stifling defense.
The win lifts LC State to 12-1 on the season, while Yellowstone Christian falls to 0-7 with four of those losses to the Warriors.
“Obviously, offensively not our best performance,” LC State coach Austin Johnson said. “But regardless of who we are playing for our guys to stay locked in defensively as long as they did was huge. I was extremely impressed by our guys to be able to stay locked in.”
LC appeared to be ready to roll in Saturday’s contest as it raced out to a 9-0 lead. The Warriors, however, shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half and had to settle for a 22-20 halftime lead. The contest featured more rebounds (50) than points (42) in the first half.
“To hold a team to 20 points at halftime, that is actually pretty good,” Johnson said. “Again, it was like walking through wet cement (offensively), but there were a lot of positives. I was really pleased with how we sustained things defensively. Especially because too many times your defense flows from your offense. We were missing shots and wide open 3s. It would have been very easy for that to affect our defense, but it didn’t.”
Ahead 26-25, the Warriors picked up a 3-pointer from Trystan Bradley and then came up with an unusual seven-point possession. Senior forward Jake Albright, who returned to the lineup after missing Friday’s 79-67 win, grabbed an offensive rebound and made the put-back while being grabbed by the Centurions’ Christian Beeke, who was called for an intentional foul. Albright made both free throws and the Warriors kept possession of the ball because of the intentional foul, which led to a 3-pointer by Hodges Bailey. The possession turned a 29-25 advantage into an 11-point lead.
Bailey hit another 3-pointer along with a pair of free throws to help the Warriors increase the margin to 45-25 with 12:28 remaining. Bailey, a senior guard, was the only LC player to finish in double-figures scoring with 18 points.
The Warriors shot 53.8 percent from the field in the second half and matched their total first-half production in the first eight minutes of the second half.
“Defensively, I tried to preach how positive it was at the half (to hold a team to 20 points),” Johnson said. “Offensively I told them you know you are going to get your 3s against this team, but let’s find a way to pound the rock inside and finish it. That’s the more frustrating thing. I don’t know if we learned a ton from last night. We were something like 14-of-56 from the 3-point line this weekend.”
LC finished the game 22-of-58 from the field for 37.9 percent and 6-of-26 from the 3-point line, 23.1 percent. The team entered the weekend ranked fifth in the NAIA in 3-point shooting at 41.2 percent.
Defensively, LC held Yellowstone Christian to 14-of-58 from the field for 24.1 percent and 4-of-19 at the 3-point line, 21.1 percent. Darrian Reed had 24 points, but his teammates were a combined 7-of-39 from the field.
Bradley, who became the 16
th player in program history to score 1,000 points in his career during Friday’s contest, added nine points and a game-high nine rebounds, while Albright added eight points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals
The Warriors currently only have four more regular-season games on the schedule, all on the road, before starting playoff action. LC is scheduled to take on Seattle Pacific this Wednesday and Thursday at 6 p.m. each night in Seattle. Seattle Pacific is an NCAA Division II member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. SPU won the GNAC regular season title last year and finished 22-7. It stands 2-2 this season.
LC also is scheduled to hit the road to play College of Idaho and Northwest Nazarene on back-to-back nights in early February.
For the playoffs, LC will face the College of Idaho in a best-of-three series with the first game set for Feb. 18. The winner of the three-game series will earn an automatic berth in the 48-team NAIA national tournament.