CALDWELL, Idaho – LC State Men's Basketball, receiving votes in the national poll, cruised to a 78-52 victory over Pacific Union (Calif.) at the Title One Tipoff in Caldwell on Friday. The Warrior defense held the Pioneers to 33.3% shooting from the field and forced 20 turnovers.
"We got off to a good start and basically rode that the rest of the way," coach Austin Johnson said. "Would have liked to have seen us extend things a bit more but we struggled making shots. I thought Josh (Salguero) really helped us sustain our physicality and defensive intensity. Lots of positives to get another win away from home and distribute a lot of minutes. We will need to be a lot better tomorrow with a super quick turnaround against a high-level offensive team in Northern New Mexico."
Dylan Skaife and John Lustig led the Warriors in scoring with 12 points each and Grayson Hunt grabbed 11 rebounds.
The victory improves the LC State record to 5-2 overall so far this season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
LC State opened the contest with a 9-0 run with three points each from Peyton Nordland, Lustig and Skaife. Skaife added another bucket before a triple by Jamare' Childs gave the Warriors a 14-2 cushion after three minutes.
Dallon Morgan, Lustig and Trevor Manning made it a 20-6 lead at the 12:28 mark in the first half. Brandon Suber, Hunt and Skaife kept the Warriors in front by double digits, 29-16, after a run by the Pioneers, and free throws by Josh Salguero and Lustig had LC State ahead 36-18 with 3:21 left in the half. Childs drained another 3-pointer and Morgan netted a free throw in the final minute to take a 43-28 into halftime.
Salguero got the scoring started in the second half before Skaife hit a 3-pointer and Lustig added a three-point play to increase the advantage to 51-34 at 16:53. Hunt sparked a scoring run of six with contributions from Suber and Morgan to make it 59-40 by 12:45, then started a 9-0 run that was aided by Lustig, Morgan and Salguero to put the game away with a 68-42 margin at 6:10.
Elijah Kersey joined the scoring with a layup at 5:06 to kick off a six-point run that featured a foul shot from Manning and the first 3-pointer of Drew Mata's career at LC State. Points from Kersey, Manning and Morgan closed out the contest.
STAT RECAP
Skaife and Lustig led LC State with 12 points each and Salguero added 11. Lustig and Suber each dished out five assists and Hunt had 11 boards. Salguero aided the defense with six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
The Warriors held PUC to 33.3% shooting from the field and 26.7% from 3-point range. LC State forced 20 turnovers and capitalized with 26 points off the turnovers.
UP NEXT
LC State concludes College of Idaho's Title One Tipoff on Saturday against Northern New Mexico at 11 a.m. PT.
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