LEWISTON – Davian Brown earned his first double-double as the Lewis-Clark State Warriors remained undefeated in Cascade Conference play with an 88-63 victory against Bushnell University at the P1FCU Activity Center on Saturday.
Brown finished with 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Jaedon Bradley led the team with a career-high 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting. Quentin Raynor added 14 points and Sam Stockton had nine points and seven rebounds.
“Bradley was awesome again offensively and it was good to see Brown get some things going,” Head Coach Austin Johnson said. “It was a true team win and that’s how it’ll need to be for us.”
The win improved the Warriors record to 7-4 overall and 5-0 in conference. The Beacons dropped to 6-5 overall and 3-2 in CCC action.
“Great weekend for our guys,” Johnson said. “They earned a couple of big wins with their defense and togetherness.”
LC State was solid from the field, shooting 35-of-66 (53%), including a 19-of-31 (61.3%) second-half performance. The Warriors hit 11 from beyond the arc, the most by the team in a single game since they hit 12 on November 16 against Providence (Mont.).
Defensively, LC held Bushnell to 38.3% shooting (23-of-60). The Warriors outrebounded the Beacons 45-26, including 11 offensive rebounds. Lewis-Clark State had 36 points in the paint and 12 second-chance points in the game.
“Bushnell is one of the best scoring teams in the country and we knew we’d need a great defensive performance to have a chance,” Johnson said.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After slipping to an early 5-2 deficit, the Warriors went on a mini 5-0 run with two free throws from Stockton and a 3-pointer by Bradley to give LC its first lead of the game at 7-5 four minutes into the game, a lead that the Warriors never relinquished. The two teams traded baskets before Bradley, Raynor and Gorden Boykins hit layups in a 56-second 6-0 run to give the Warriors a 15-9 advantage with 12:16 remaining before the break.
Stifling defense from LC State supported a 9-0 run as the Warriors held the Beacons scoreless for nearly five minutes. Bushnell missed six consecutive shots as Bradley nailed a 3, Brown and Stockton added a layup each and John Lustig connected with two free throws. LC pushed the lead to 24-11. The Beacons found their range with 3-pointers by Tony Frohlich-Fair and Luke Smith to cut the lead to seven with 5:58 to go in the first half.
Raynor hit three from beyond the arc in the final four minutes of the first frame and Brown added one with 1:02 remaining to give the Warriors an 18-point lead, the largest of the half, 42-24. The LC State defense held Bushnell, who scored 112 points against Walla Walla a night before, to 26 first-half points and held a 42-26 lead at intermission.
The Beacons shot just 8-of-31 (25.8%) in the first half including 2-of-13 (15.4%) from beyond the 3-point line. The Warriors hit six 3-pointers and shot 16-of-35 (45.7%) in the first 20 minutes.
The Warriors started the second half red hot. LC State had a layup from Alton Hamilton, a Stockton layup while Brown added five points as the Warriors started the second frame on a 9-2 run to take a 51-28 lead with 17:38 remaining.
Bushnell did not go away quietly. Kaden Sand hit a jumper and a pair of free throws, Spencer Hoffman made a pair of baskets and Frohlich-Fair added a 3-pointer as the Beacons went on a 11-4 run to cut the Warrior lead to 66-52 with 8:11 to go. The 14-point deficit was the closest Bushnell got.
Brown and Anthony Peoples Jr. connected on back-to-back jumpers to extend the LC State lead to 80-58 with 3:31 left. Lustig collected five points and Raynor drilled another 3-pointer to help close out the 25-point victory.
Hoffman led the Beacons with 18 points and eight rebounds. Frohlich-Fair added 15 points and seven rebounds. Kaden Sand finished with 13 points, six rebounds and three blocks.
“Big one on Wednesday,” Johnson said. “Excited to see how we respond.”
UP NEXT
The Warriors will be back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 20 when they host Walla Walla at 7 p.m. at the P1FCU Activity Center.
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