LEWISTON, Idaho – Benedictine-Mesa looked like a new team to open Saturday's night's NAIA Opening Round Championship in the Activity Center, but the outcome was the same as back in January: an LC State victory. After defeating the Redhawks 80-56 in the first meeting, the No. 6 Warrior Men's Basketball team dominated in the second meeting, 98-73, this time on a much bigger stage. With the win, LC State punched its ticket to Kansas City, Mo. with a spot in the NAIA's round of 16.
"I am very thankful for our administration for bidding to host, and the fans got to see great games," Head Coach
Austin Johnson said. "We had an awesome home crowd which means so much to these kids, especially to have their friends and family at the games, and I can't thank the administration enough. This is a special team with a great group of men."
BenU entered the game on a high after upsetting Vanguard to get to the championship.
"I was really pleased," Johnson said. "We had a two-week layoff, playing a team with a lot of confidence, and just really pleased with how we guarded, our communication, obviously we shot the ball pretty well there in a stretch in the second half. Just really proud and we have a great group of seniors, those guys carried us and led us and it's just an awesome group of guys that I feel fortunate to coach
BenU matched an opening shot by Damek Mitchell to start the game and the teams sat tied 2-2 until the Redhawks took a 4-2 lead at 17:33. Khalil Stevenson answered to even the score 10 seconds later. BenU did not let up, but back-to-back 3s by Travis Yenor and Mitchell gave LC a 10-7 edge.
A 3 from Mitchell and bucket by Stevenson made it 17-12 in favor of the Warriors, and a block by Jake Albright gave the ball right back to LC State. Mitchell capitalized on the turnover with another Warrior basket.
A five-point run with foul shots by Trystan Bradley and a basket by Hodges Bailey gave the Warriors a slim 28-21 lead before another set of free throws by Yenor made it a seven-point difference. Stevenson followed a triple by Yenor with four free throws to grow the advantage to 41-28 as the Warrior offense continued to build its lead.
LC State led BenU 45-33 at the half.
The Warriors opened the second with a 9-2 run. Bradley, Stevenson and Yenor combined for three straight baskets to cap the rally and give LC a 54-35 advantage. Bradley went back to the basket for five more points before Stevenson added on to the 61-40 advantage.
LC State found new energy and played with an even higher intensity down the stretch. Back-to-back triples by Bailey and Yenor fueled the momentum, and Stevenson added one after assisting on another by Bailey. The Warriors held a commanding lead, 78-55, with 9:10 to play.
The offense continued to pile on with a 13-5 run to bring the score to 91-60 with five minutes to play. Stevenson surpassed his previous career-high with a pair of free throws at 4:17 to further put the game away for the Warriors.
Stevenson led LC State with a career-high 22 points and dished out five assists. He was 9-for-10 from the free throw line and 6-for-8 from the field. Yenor added 20 points, Mitchell scored 18, Bradley had 16 and Bailey scored 12. Bradley led the defense with seven rebounds and Yenor had three blocks. Both Yenor and Mitchell grabbed six boards.
LC State shot 54.2 percent from the field (32-for-59). The Warriors outrebounded BenU 44-28.
The Warriors earned the No. 3 seed in Kansas City and will open up at the final site on Friday against No. 14 Oklahoma Wesleyan at 1:45 p.m. PT. More info on how to view the game will be announced early next week.
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