LEWISTON, Idaho – The No. 20 LC State Warriors cruised to their fourth victory of the season with a 105-92 win over former conference foe University of Providence. LC used a well-balanced attack with six players in double-digit points to get the job done.
“From start to finish I thought our guys played with great discipline and togetherness,” Head Coach Austin Johnson said. “Our ball movement and spacing allowed different guys to attack with confidence. Defensively I was very pleased with how we were able to defend in space. We had big lifts from Sam (Stockton) and Oreon (Courtney) off the bench, which we will need again tomorrow against an extremely talented Montana Western team.”
Khalil Stevenson answered an Argo 3 with a layup to get the Warriors on the board. A 3-pointer by Kevin Baker put LC in front 5-3, but UP rallied to take an 8-5 advantage. Silas Bennion continued the back-and-forth with a layup to give LC a 9-8 edge and Stevenson kept it there at 11-10 at 14:43.
Oreon Courtney pushed the lead to four with a layup a minute later, and a jumper by Nathan Fromm added to the run to make it a six-point difference. Sam Stockton grabbed an offensive rebound to push the advantage to 20-12 and force an Argo timeout.
Stockton kept the momentum going with a pair of 3s before layups by Brennen Newsom and Courtney had LC up 34-20 with 7:01 to go. The Warriors kept rolling with triples by Al Sommerfield and Stevenson to take control of the half before heading to the locker room with a 52-38 lead.
Courtney kept the scoring going in the second half with a layup, and Fromm followed with two free throws. Sommerfield and Stevenson each drained another 3 to make it a 64-50 lead at 15:44. Fromm added to the parade of 3s at 13:56 to push the lead over 10 to 67-56 and Stevenson added an over-the-shoulder layup 30 seconds later.
Baker hit the 10th LC State 3-pointer of the night with 9:47 to play, pushing the advantage to 80-68, and Sommerfield drained the 11th at the 8:09 mark as the Warriors continued to add on. Kalani Sapwell made good use of his time with two 3-pointers to grow the advantage to 105-89 in the last minute as LC State cruised to a 105-92 victory.
Baker led LC State with 20 points, including a 10-for-11 performance from the free throw line, and Stevenson was just behind with 19 points. Stockton added 14 points, Fromm scored 13, Courtney chipped in 12 and Sommerfield had 11. Courtney led the defense with nine boards and Stockton had eight. Stevenson led the team with five assists, Fromm blocked two shots and Stockton tallied four steals.
As a team, LC State shot 47.4 percent from the floor and 40.6 percent from 2-point range. The Warriors made 13 3-pointers, with six in the first half and seven in the second.
LC State closes out the Clearwater River Casino & Lodge Classic tomorrow night against Montana Western at 7 p.m.
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