CALDWELL, Idaho – Trystan Bradley, Damek Mitchell and Hodges Bailey combined for 66 points in No. 7 Lewis-Clark State’s 85-71 victory over William Jessup to open a big road trip on Monday. The three seniors led LC State to victory in a battle of the Warriors, with Bradley tying a career-high in points and Mitchell notching a double-double with a career-best 13 rebounds.
“Today was another grind-it-out win for our guys,” Head Coach Austin Johnson said. “Jessup is a very talented team and was a handful to defend. I thought we responded really well in the second half down the stretch defensively and that’s a credit to our seniors.”
Damek Mitchell started the scoring quickly with a jump 30 seconds in, but Jessup quickly responded to even the score. Mitchell drew a foul and made good on both free throws to make it 4-2 in favor of LC State. Trystan Bradley added to the advantage with a layup, and Hodges Bailey made it 10-4 after being fouled on a 3-pointer.
Mitchell found Jake Albright under the basket to give LC a six-point lead at 16:19, and an effortless-looking triple from Bailey had the LC Warriors ahead 15-6 five minutes in.
A small run by Jessup’s Warriors had them within four a minute later, and by 13:09 the game was knotted 17-17. Nathan Fromm put LC State back in front with an assist from Silas Bennion, and another 3 from Bailey made it a 22-17 cushion at 11:20.
Mitchell and Bradley kept the 3-pointers coming for LC State with nine straight points coming from the 3-ball. A layup by Bradley grew the advantage to 33-24 at 7:35.
Oreon Courtney scored back-to-back baskets, before Bailey hit a dagger of the 3 to give the LC Warriors a 10-point lead (40-30). Jessup rallied to cut LC’s lead to 45-42 in the final seconds of the half to send LC State into the locker room with a three-point advantage.
At the half, Bailey led the team with 15 points while going 5-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 from 3-point range. Mitchell had tallied 12 points with a 2-for-2 performance from 3, and Bradley had 10 points including two 3-pointers.
Khalil Stevenson opened the second frame with a layup, and Bradley, Mitchell and Albright followed to begin the half with an eight-point rally. Albright gave LC State its largest lead of the game at that point with a jumper at 15:26 to make it a 12-point game, and Mitchell kept it at 12 with a long 3 at 14:07.
LC State maintained a 10-point lead, aided by a layup by Fromm after a steal by Mitchell with 10:39 remaining. A pair of free throws and a 3-pointer by Bailey pushed the score to 67-55.
Jessup rallied to cut the LC lead to five, but a layup from Mitchell pushed the advantage back to seven. Bradley made it a 10-point game with a three-point play, and he added back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 82-71 at 1:19.
A layup from Bradley and a free throw from Albright ended the game with LC State in front 85-71.
Bradley led LC State with a career-high tying 27 points. He was 10-for-16 from the floor and hit 4-of-7 3-pointers. Bailey tallied 20 points, including a 5-for-8 performance from behind the 3-point line. He was 6-for-11 from the field. Mitchell notched a double-double with 19 points and a career-best 13 rebounds. He was 3-for-4 from 3 and dished out six assists to lead the game.
“Hodges had it going early and Trystan hit some big shots late with his teammates finding him for open looks,” Johnson said. “It was a total team win and that’s what it will take for us to be successful moving forward.”
The LC State Warriors shot 54.2 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from 3-point range. The team totaled 12 3-pointers, including eight in the first half. They held William Jessup to 29 points in the second half.
With the victory, LC State improves to 7-0 on the season. The road swing continues with a trip to Arizona beginning on Wednesday. The Warriors take on Benedictine-Mesa on Jan. 6 at 2 p.m. PT.