LA GRANDE, Ore. – Lewis-Clark State Men’s Basketball opened 2024 with a heart racing victory in La Grande on Friday when the Warriors battled back to win 77-75 in overtime. LC State trailed by as many as 14 points before rallying to tie the game in the final 25 seconds. Jaedon Bradley scored a career-high 25 points and Gorden Boykins played a key role in the final minutes to help the Warrior remain unbeaten in CCC play.
“Proud of our guys for hanging in there, even when we didn’t have our best stuff,” Head Coach Austin Johnson said. “We were outplayed for most of the night, but we did just enough to hang around, and then guys made plays down the stretch. JB (Jaedon Bradley) was special scoring the ball and we got key plays from every guy on the roster. We had some impressive defensive stands late which was exciting to see. We will need to tighten some things up and regroup to get ready for C of I.”
The Warrior defense blocked 12 shots in the contest for the second-best single-game total in program history. The total is the most since LC blocked 16 against Simpson in 1989.
LC State is 9-4 overall with the win and 7-0 in Cascade play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Alton Hamilton and Bradley put LC on the board with an early 4-0 edge. EOU answered with a triple to make it 4-3 in the opening minute, and another 3 by AJ Huddleston had the score tied 6-6 two minutes in. The Mounties took their first lead of the contest at 15:59 with a free throw before Anthony Peoples Jr. found the basket to give LC an 8-7 advantage a minute later.
Bradley and Quentin Raynor each netted 3-pointers to push the Warrior advantage to 14-9 by 11:41, and Sam Stockton kept the offensive pressure coming with a jumper midway through the half. EOU rallied to pull ahead 24-17 before a pair of baskets by Peoples Jr. had LC within five, 26-21, at 3:48.
Bradley scored five straight points with a pair of foul shots and a 3-pointer to tie things up 26-26, but EOU answered with another triple to regain the lead with 1:31 to play in the half. The Mounties led 31-26 at the break.
John Lustig put up his first points of the game to open the second half, but EOU maintained its momentum to answer with a 3 to keep the difference at 34-28. Bradley and Hamilton kept things close with a basket each, but Huddleston drained another 3 and EOU pushed ahead 39-32 by 16:26. The Mounties continued to control the pace of play with a double-digit cushion until a 3-pointer by Bradley sparked a small Warrior run. Raynor added a triple and Lustig threw down a dunk to make it eight straight LC points to cut the difference to 52-46 with 9:50 to play.
Free throws by Hamilton and a 3 by Davian Brown brought the Warriors within four, 58-54, at 5:48, but EOU surged to push the difference back to 10 two minutes later.
Lustig accounted for four straight points down the stretch and Bradley surpassed the 20-point mark before a basket by Gorden Boykins had the Warriors within two, 66-64, in the final 30 seconds. A layup by Sam Stockton tied the contest a few seconds later to send the game into overtime.
Bradley drew first blood in the extra period to give LC State its first lead since the first half. Another basket by the senior tied the score 70-70 after a run by EOU, and a jumper by Boykins did the same at 72-72 with 2:27 on the clock. Brown and Raynor each made good on a pair of foul shots in the closing seconds before Boykins grabbed a board and drained a foul shot to close out the 77-75 win.
Bradley led all scorers with 25 points on a 9-for-15 performance from the floor. He went 3-for-6 from 3 and made all four is his free throws. Lustig added 11 points and led the team with three blocks. Hamilton pulled down 10 boards.
Every Warrior in the contest scored at least four points and grabbed a rebound. Six of the eight each had an assist and a block. Stockton, Brown, Hamilton and Peoples Jr. each had two blocks to go with Lustig’s three.
UP NEXT
The Warriors travel to Caldwell to take on in-state rival No. 5 College of Idaho on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
