(Lewiston, ID) Five Warriors scored in double-digits as No. 22 LC State shot 52% from the floor to open Cascade Conference play with a 94-59 victory over Walla Walla University (Wash.) on Tuesday. MaCarhy Morris led the way with 20 points while John Lustig notched his second straight double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Along with Morris and Lustig, Taden King, Gorden Boykins and Jayceon Smith scored at least 10 points each while four different Warriors each grabbed at least five rebounds.
“Good way to start conference play for our guys,” Head Coach Austin Johnson said. “We made some adjustments this past week without Alton (Hamilton) being able to play and our guys did a good job responding. MaCarhy and Taden got us going in the first half offensively. Gorden and John were big defensively. In the second half we really guarded consistently as a team as well as we have all year, and our bench was a big part of that.”
The Warriors are now 5-1 on the season and 1-0 in CCC action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Warriors came out hot with a 16-4 lead after four minutes. King, Boykins and Morris each hit 3-pointers as part of the run, with Morris draining two, before another 3 by King made it 19-7 by 14:44. After a back-and-forth, Smith and Josh Salguero went back-to-back at the basket for a 27-17 advantage with 11:00 left in the half.
The pair each scored again and two buckets by King kept the cushion at seven points, 35-28, with 4:54 to play. Boykins netted three clutch free throws to move the margin back to double digits in the final minute of the half and back-to-back triples by Morris had the lead at 50-37 at the break.
King opened the second half with a triple, as he did the first, and baskets by Boykins, Lustig, Grayson Hunt and Morris fueled the 13-point run to start the frame. LC State led 63-37 after the first four minutes of the half.
Salguero, Peyton Nordland and Smith kept the momentum going with a short run to grow the advantage to 71-44 by 9:57. The final seven minutes were all Warriors with a 17-6 run. Morris and Kellen Jedlicka each scored two, Smith added seven and Kasen Carpenter led the stretch with eight to close out the contest.
STAT RECAP
Morris led all scorers with 20 points with a 4-for-8 night from 3-point range. He added eight rebounds, a career-high six assists and three steals to his night. King scored 25 points with 3-for-6 shooting from 3-point range and 6-of-9 from the field, and Smith added a career-best 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting.
Lustig led the game with 10 board to go with his 10 points. He shot 5-for-8 with three assists. Boykins added 10 points with eight rebounds while going 3-for-4 from the floor.
LC State shot .520 from the floor with 10 3-pointers and held WWU to .354. The Warriors won the rebound battle 48-36 and scored 19 points off 14 turnovers.
Almonds Sebirokwa led the Wolves with 10 points and Soren Dalan grabbed nine rebounds.
UP NEXT
The Warriors hit the road for more Cascade Conference action Dec. 6-7 at Northwest (Wash.) and Evergreen State (Wash.).