| KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Lewis-Clark State Men’s Basketball earned its biggest win of the regular season with a 97-84 victory over No. 16 Oregon Tech on Friday. The Warriors shot nearly 60% from the field to clinch the No. 2 seed in the Cascade Conference postseason tournament.
“This was a super physical game and felt like a championship fight. Super proud of our guys for weathering the environment and a really good OIT team,” Head Coach Austin Johnson said.
LC State had six players score in double-digits, led by Jaedon Bradley’s 19 points and 18 from Alton Hamilton.
“We really moved the ball offensively as a team which allows us to shoot a high percentage,” Johnson said. “Defensively we did a great job guarding the 3 and in the second half we were way better on the defensive glass. John and Jaedon got us off to great starts offensively to keep pace. A lot of good performances but tough to not spotlight Alton. He was special and is showing he can impact the game in a variety of ways. He had some unbelievable rebounds and was huge offensively down the stretch. We’ll need to rest and recover for a really good SOU team tomorrow. Excited to see how we respond.”
The win moves LC State to 20-7 overall and 18-3 in Cascade Conference play. The Warriors hold the same record as Oregon Tech but won both meetings to clinch the tiebreaker in seeding.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Hamilton put up the first basket of the contest and the Warriors held OIT off the board for the first two minutes. John Lustig helped LC keep pace with the Owls with a pair of buckets and Sam Stockton gave the Warriors a one-point edge, 8-7, with a jumper at 16:21.
The Owls took a 15-12 advantage before a layup by Anthony Peoples Jr. made it a one-point game at 13:48. Two points from Quentin Raynor followed a steal by Stockton and a pair of triples by Bradley made it 22-18 LC State at 11:01. Bradley and Peoples Jr. went back-to-back to push the advantage to 26-19 90 seconds later.
Lustig scored five straight points to grow the lead to 29-23 with 6:44 to play in the half. A 3 by Raynor helped the Warriors maintain a slim advantage in the final second and LC State took a 40-35 lead into the break.
Layups by Hamilton and Lustig got the Warrior offense going in the second half, but baskets by OIT evened the score 44-44 at 15:31. Gorden Boykins put LC State back in front with two straight baskets and a layup by Bradley stretched the run to six for a 50-44 lead by 14:07.
Boykins continued his strong second half with a layup at 12:58 and Raynor netted a 3 to keep the momentum with LC State. Another triple by Raynor pushed the lead to double-digits, 62-49, with 11:22 to play. Davian Brown grabbed an offense board and threw down a dunk to mark the midway point of the half with LC up 64-49.
Baskets by Raynor and Bradley capped the scoring run at nine points for a 68-49 advantage at 9:38. Stockton, Boykins, Brown, Lustig and Hamilton pushed the lead to 80-64 with five minutes to play. Hamilton stayed hot late in the game to make it a 20-point game in the final four minutes.
OIT went on an 11-0 run to cut the LC State lead to 86-77 with 2:21 on the clock, doing so in the span of a 90 seconds, before Stockton cut the rally with a layup. Hamilton free throws pushed the score to 90-79 as the Owls continued to cut into the lead.
Free throws by Bradley, Stockton, Raynor and Hamilton helped the Warriors secure the victory.
Bradley led all scorers with 19 points and Hamilton tied his career-high of 18. Lustig and Raynor each scored 14 points, Stockton added 11 and Boykins scored 10. Brown and Hamilton each grabbed eight boards, Stockton dished out six assists with two steals, and Peoples Jr. blocked four shots.
The Warriors shot 59% from the floor and outrebounded OIT 41-32.
UP NEXT
The Warriors close out the regular season on Saturday at No. 22 Southern Oregon. Tip off is set for 5 p.m. in Ashland, Ore.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
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