LEWISTON, Idaho – Twelve Warriors scored in the landslide victory over Northwest Indian College on Wednesday. The No. 20 Lewis-Clark State Men’s Basketball team upended the visiting Eagles by a final of 118-56, led by a career-high 20 points from Brennen Newsom.
The Warriors used 11 3-pointers, with eight players each hitting at least one, and shot at a clip of 60.8 percent from the field. Multiple LC State players filled the stat sheet with all 12 collecting a rebound and 10 dealing an assist.
“Tonight was a good performance for our guys from the jump,” Head Coach Austin Johnson said. “Our ball movement was great and everybody was efficient with their touches. We still have a ways to go to get where we want to be defensively, but I’m confident this group will figure it out if they stay solution oriented.”
NWIC took a 3-0 lead to begin the game, but a run of 18 straight LC State points put the Warriors in the driver’s seat by 14:19. Kevin Baker contributed six points during the stretch, and Al Sommerfield added five. The Eagles rallied to cut their deficit to 28-21 with 10:43 to play in the half, but another big run by LC squashed the momentum.
The Warriors scored 24 straight points between 10:25 and 6:05 with nine points by Khalil Stevenson and eight from Nathan Fromm. LC led 52-21 after the rally, and a string of six Warrior points from Sam Stockton and Newsom made the advantage 62-25 at the break.
LC carried the momentum over into the second half, starting with a 3 by Silas Bennion. A run of 14, with six different Warriors chipping in, grew the margin to 83-29 by 13:20. A layup by Bennion pushed LC to the 100-point mark with 7:08 to play, and two separate six-point stretches closed out the game at 118-56.
Newsom led all scorers with his career-high 20 points. Kevin Baker also had his best scoring night as a Warrior with 17 points. Stevenson added 16, Fromm scored 13 and Bennion chipped in 10 and a team-best eight boards.
Every Warrior in the game grabbed a rebound, and Stockton led the team with eight assists. Kalani Sapwell dished out five and Oreon Courtney assisted on four baskets. Courtney, Newsom and Stockton each had a pair of steals in the contest.
The Warriors did not allow any points off turnovers and took advantage of NWIC turnovers for 21 points. The LC bench accounted for 68 of the team’s 118 points. The defense held the Eagles to just 27.9 percent from the field.
LC State heads to Spokane on Friday to take on NCAA powerhouse Gonzaga at 6 p.m. The Zags are ranked No. 1 in Division I, and both teams finished as the National Runners-Up in their respective divisions last season. The game will be televised on KHQ. Links to coverage can be found at lcwarriors.com.
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