CALDWELL, ID – The LC State Men’s Basketball team came out hot and gave the No. 1 College of Idaho Yotes a challenge in the title game of the 2025 Cascade Conference Championship. John Lustig led the Warrior offense with 20 points in the contest and Alton Hamilton anchored the defense with 13 rebounds.
“Credit to C of I,” coach Austin Johnson said. “They handled themselves like an experienced championship level team. Loved how we competed. We certainly weren’t good enough to win tonight but I like the effort we played with collectively. This team has accomplished a lot and hopefully has more opportunities together in the national tournament.”
Though the Warriors did not get an automatic bid into the national tournament, the possibly of an at-large berth is high. LC State will find out its fate on Mar. 6 when the NAIA announcing the national tournament field.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Lustig scored the first two baskets of the game before a jumper by Dylan Skaife and 3-pointer by Taden King made it 9-2 Warriors after two minutes. The Yotes answered with six to cut the difference to one, 9-8, but a dunk by Hamilton had the LC State advantage at 11-8 at 16:04. Lustig followed with a layup for back-to-back baskets to keep the lead with the Warriors five minutes in.
The back-and-forth continued before C of I rallied to take the lead, 19-17, at 11:15 and extended the margin to 28-19 at 7:24. Buckets by Lustig and MaCarhy Morris kept the game within 10 but a run by the Yotes had the score at 36-23 with under four minutes left in the half.
Free throws by Hamilton and Morris and baskets by Lustig and Morris had the score within 10, 43-33, at the half.
Lustig was the first to score in the second half and a layup by Hamilton had the deficit at 43-37 after two minutes. The Yotes answered with four points of their own to grow the margin back to double digits 30 seconds later. A triple by King, bucket by Lustig and free throw by Skaife made it 53-43 at 14:46.
Tallies by Lustig and Hamilton helped LC keep pace until C of I surged to put the game away. The margin grew to 20 points, 71-51, by 6:25 and the Yotes took the contest 86-69.
STAT RECAP
Lustig led the Warriors with 20 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the field. Hamilton was 11-for-11 from the free throw line for his 17 points to go with a game-high 13 rebounds. Freshman Jayceon Smith added 13 points.
LC State shot 47.1% from the field and made 18 free throws.
UP NEXT
The Warriors will learn of their national tournament fate on Mar. 6 when the national tournament field is announced at 6 p.m.
