LEWISTON, Idaho – The Cascade Conference Champion Lewis-Clark State Men’s Basketball team cruised to a 99-70 victory over Multnomah on Thursday night. The fourth-ranked Warriors had five players score in double-digits, led by 20 points from Trystan Bradley.
LC State got it done on both sides of the ball. The Warriors doubled the Lions’ rebound total and more than doubled the assist count while shooting nearly 60 percent from the field.
“I was really pleased with our guys defensively in the second half,” Head Coach Austin Johnson said. “Our seniors really set the tone and the younger guys raised their level as well. Multnomah is a challenging team to defend, and it was good to see us buckle down. The ball movement was great for us as well with 26 assists. We’ll need to bounce back and be better tomorrow.”
A bucket by Bradley put LC on the board before a nine-point run put the Warriors ahead 11-2. Damek Mitchell grabbed three rebounds and scored five points in the span. Back-to-back 3s by Hodges Bailey kept the momentum going and a triple by Travis Yenor had the Warriors up 22-7 six minutes in.
Natham Fromm started another run of nine to grow the advantage to 49-26 by 4:38, and a bucket by Oreon Courtney had LC up 53-40 at the break.
Multnomah matched the Warriors’ pace through the first 10 minutes of the second half before LC State took off. A 3 by Yenor on an assist from Silas Bennion sparked run of 21 points, including five 3-pointers. A shot from beyond the arc by Bradley capped the run at 4:49 with LC in front 86-55.
The freshmen made a number of contributions down the stretch, including a pair of back-to-back baskets by Sam Stockton and a three-point play by Bennion. Will Abram scored the game’s final basket with 26 seconds left to bring the score to 99-70.
Bradley led the Warriors with 20 points, while Bailey added 17, Mitchell had 15, Yenor posted 14 and Courtney scored 10. Brennen Newsom led the team in boards with nine, and Mitchell, Yenor and Courtney each had seven. Khalil Stevenson filled up the stat sheet with five rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Bennion dealt a team-leading six assists.
Bradley was an impressive 8-for-10 from the field, and Courtney was a perfect 5-for-5. As a team, LC State shot 58.5 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from 3. They missed just one free throw (10-for-11) for a 90.9 shooting percentage from the line.
The Warriors outrebounded the Lions 50-25 and dished out 26 assists. They held Multnomah to 33.8 percent from the field, despite a 38-point effort from MU’s Zach Richardson.
LC State takes on the Lions in the series finale on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. The game will be streamed for free on the Warrior Sports Network and carried on the radio by KOZE.
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