CALDWELL, ID – After defeating seventh-seeded Multnomah (Ore.) in the semifinal on Friday, the third-seeded LC State Men’s Basketball team will face top-seeded No. 1 College of Idaho in the title game of the 2025 Cascade Conference Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, on Monday. The contest in Caldwell, Idaho, is scheduled for 6 p.m. PT.
The Yotes swept the regular season against the Warriors by scores of 85-69 and 73-60. C of I advanced to the championship with a victory over fourth-seeded Southern Oregon.
No. 3 Seed – LC State Warriors (24-6, 17-5)
The LC State Warriors earned a 98-78 win over Multnomah on Friday to advance in the tournament. Freshman Dylan Skaife scored a career-high 21 points with five 3-pointers, MaCarhy Morris added 18 points and both Alton Hamilton (20 points, 12 rebounds) and John Lustig (14 points, 10 rebounds) had double-doubles.
The Warriors enter the contest with a record of 24-6 overall and 17-5 in conference play. LC leads the CCC in field goal percentage (.505) is second in scoring defense (71.6) and field goal percentage defense (.437). The Warriors are averaging 80.4 points per game.
Hamilton has been one of the top players in the conference all season long and is the only player in the CCC averaging a double-double. His 10.2 boards per game leads the Cascade and his 17.4 points per game mark is second. The sophomore is second in blocked shots this season with 30 and leads the team with 78 assists.
Junior Lustig has been one of the most efficient scorers in the CCC in the last few weeks and currently ranks fifth in the conference in field goal percentage (.597). He is averaging 12.4 points per game and scored the 1,000th point of his career on Tuesday against Corban. Lustig leads the team with 24 steals this season and is second in assists with 76.
Morris is one of the biggest scoring threats with 15.1 points per game while senior Taden King leads the LC State Warriors in 3-pointers made this season with 55. Both are shooting more than 34% from beyond the 3-point line.
Freshman Dylan Skaife had a breakout second half including his career-high 21 on Friday, and senior Gorden Boykins has been a steady presence off the bench and is currently second on the team in steals 22 to go with 15 blocks and 39 assists.
King led LC State in the 85-69 loss at home with 18 points and Morris scored 16. The Warriors shot 50.9% from the field but struggled at the free throw line. Morris scored 14 points in Caldwell and Hamilton tallied 12 points and eight rebounds.
No. 1 Seed – College of Idaho Yotes (28-2, 21-1)
The Yotes, the top-ranked team in the NAIA, have won 18 straight games and are 17-1 at home this season.
C of I leads the CCC in nearly every statistical category including scoring offense (87.1), scoring defense (63.4), field goal percentage defense (.381) and rebounding (41.4).
College of Idaho’s deep roster allows for balanced scoring with Johnny Radford leading the way with 14.3 points per game. Straton Rogers is fifth in the CCC in rebounding (8.3) and fourth in field goal percentage (.620), while Samaje Morgan is second in assists (136). Radford leads in free throw percentage (.900) and is third in 3-point field goal percentage (.424). He had made the most 3-pointers in the conference this season with 81. Tyler Robinett leads in blocked shots (46).
Radford led C of I in Lewiston with 20 points and Rogers grabbed 11 rebounds. In Caldwell, Drew Wyman led the Yotes with 18 points and Rogers had 14 boards.
THE DETAILS
The CCC title game is set for Mar. 3 at 6 p.m. PT in C of I’s Elgin Baylor Arena. The Yotes have already earned the conference’s first automatic bid to the national tournament and LC State will earn the second with a win over C of I. If the Yotes win, second-seed Oregon Tech will get the second bid with LC State likely receiving an at-large.
