LEWISTON – Lewis-Clark State College Men’s Basketball played stifling defense in a 78-49 victory over Corban in a Cascade Conference game on Friday at the P1FCU Activity Center.
The win improved LC State’s record to 6-4 overall and 4-0 in CCC play. Corban suffered its first conference loss and dropped to 3-1 and 5-3 overall.
“Super proud of our guys and their effort tonight,” coach Austin Johnson said. “It all starts on the defensive end and our guys were dialed in.”
LC State held Corban to 16-of-62 (25.8%) from the field including 1-of-19 to finish the game. The shooting percentage was the lowest for an opponent against Lewis-Clark State since it held Portland Bible College to 19.6% on Nov. 26, 2021.
LC outrebounded its opponent 51-to-33 with career rebounding performances by Jaedon Bradley (11) and Gorden Boykins (8). Sam Stockton finished with eight points and eight rebounds and Anthony Peoples Jr. collected nine boards.
Bradley recorded his first double-double as an LC State Warrior with 17 points to go with those 11 rebounds. Lustig tied for the team lead with 17 points of his own and Davian Brown added 10. Lewis-Clark State was 17-of-20 (85%) from the free throw line. All eight players for LC scored at least four points.
“Offensively, Bradley and Stockton got us in a rhythm in the first half,” Johnson said. “In the second half we had great balance and patience.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
Corban scored on its opening possession before Lustig’s five points were combined with layups by Brown and Bradley as LC State went on an early 9-0 run. After Corban cut the lead to three, LC used two free throws by Alton Hamilton along with layups by Bradley and Stockton to extend the lead to 15-6 with 14:46 remaining in the first half.
Lustig blocked a shot in transition and followed it up with a full-court pass to Brown for the easy layup to give LC State its first double-digit lead at 21-10. Noah Viera ended a 4:30 scoring drought for Corban with a three-point play to make it 21-13 LC at the 8:30 mark in the first half. A Lustig 3-pointer was the exclamation point on a 9-2 run and gave the home team double the points of the visitors, 30-15, with 6:05 to go in the opening period.
LC State held Corban to 11-of-31 (35.5%) shooting in the first half. Lustig tied his season high in the first half with 14 points. Bradley tied his teammate with 14 points of his own in the first 20 minutes to help give LC a 38-27 halftime lead.
“Very pleased with our sustained focus defensively for a full 40 minutes,” Johnson said. “We’ll need to regroup for an extremely talented and well-rested Bushnell team tomorrow.”
After scoring the last four points in the first half, Corban started the second half on fire. The visitors hit three layups in the first 2:30 while they held LC scoreless to go on a 10-0 run and cut the lead to five, 38-33.
Peoples Jr. with a layup and Gorden Boykins with a jumper joined the box score and Bradley hit a 3 to push the Lewis-Clark State lead back over double-figures at 47-35 with 13:53 remaining. After a timeout, Quinten Raynor earned his first points with a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to extend the LC run to 12-0.
Lustig converted on a layup and free throw, Hamilton and Stockton hit layups and Raynor added a 3-pointer as LC State pushed the seven-minute run to 22-5 to take its largest lead of the game at 22 with 9:10 remaining. Another 10-0 run pushed the lead to 74-45 with 4:11 remaining.
Aundree Polk led Corban with 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting. Nikola Milosevic added nine points and Dirk Helaire II had five rebounds.
UP NEXT
Lewis-Clark State returns to the P1FCU Activity Center on Saturday as the Warriors host Bushnell at 6 p.m. for another Cascade Conference contest.
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