LEWISTON – The Lewis-Clark State Men’s Basketball team used a strong offensive opening half and survived a free throw contest in an 87-75 victory over No. 24 Oregon Tech in a Cascade Conference game at the P1FCU Activity Center on Saturday.
The victory improved the Warriors’ record to 11-5 overall and 9-1 in CCC action. The Owls dropped to 12-3 on the season and 7-2 in conference play. The win keeps LC State in a tie for the top spot with No. 5 College of Idaho.
“Fun to see our guys take another step in terms of competing for a full 40 minutes tonight,” Head Coach Austin Johnson said. “Oregon Tech is so tough to guard, but ultimately we were able to defend the 3 well enough to come out on top.”
Davian Brown led LC State with 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. John Lustig filled the stat sheet with 16 points, four rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block. Jaedon Bradley finished with 17 points and Quentin Raynor added 14.
“John Lustig and Davian Brown had a great weekend on both sides of the ball which makes us an even better team,” Johnson said. “I thought Sam Stockton had maybe his best game of the year running the show. Quentin Raynor and Gorden Boykins have been huge off the bench.”
The Warriors shot 30-of-57 (52.6%) from the field, connected on nine 3s and made 18-of-21 free throws. LC State outrebounded OIT 34-27, forced 13 turnovers and made the Owls struggle from beyond the arc. Oregon Tech shot 3-of-17 from 3 in the game.
Jamison Guerra led OIT with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Kody Bauman was perfect from the field (6-for-6) and finished with 17 points. Keegan Shivers finished in double-figures with 12 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Lustig with quick hands stole the ball and turned it into a layup to get the scoring underway. The sophomore added a fall-away jumper on the next possession to give the Warriors a quick 4-0 lead in the first two minutes.
Brown and Bradley connected on 3-pointers to sandwich a 3 from the Owls’ Erik Fraser and extend the lead to 10-5. After a 4-0 Oregon Tech run, Boykins started a 15-0 run for LC State with an off-balance putback with his off hand.
Raynor added a jumper, Boykins hit a layup and Lustig completed a three-point play to push the lead to 10. Boykins kept the hot hand with a 3-pointer and Brown scored three the old-fashioned way to take a 25-9 lead with 12:14 remaining in the first half. During the run, the Warriors were a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and 2-of-2 from the line. The Owls committed three turnovers and shot 0-of-4 during the same stretch.
Lustig continued his hot start with a pair of jumpers, Bradley hit another 3-pointer and pushed the LC State advantage to 21. Bauman and Jackson Cooper combined to go on a 9-2 run for Oregon Tech, but Bradley and Brown connected on two 3s on back-to-back possessions. After a timeout, Raynor made a jumper and gave the Warriors a 42-22 lead.
The Owls refused to go away and scored 13 of the final 17 points in the first half which included a four-minute scoring stretch for LC State. The Warriors went to the locker room up 46-35.
The 46-first half points by LC State was the most in an opening half since scoring 59 against Northwest Indian College on Nov. 8. The Warriors hit six from beyond the arc in the first half and shot 18-of-34 (52.9%) from the field. Lustig and Bradley both reached double-figures in the first 20 minutes with 11 points apiece.
t was Lustig again to get the scoring started for LC State in the second half. Stockton added a jumper and two free throws to push the lead to 52-37. Both teams went on a free throw battle over the next three minutes. Nine consecutive points were scored from the line, five to Oregon Tech and four to LC. Bradley ended the run with a layup. The Warriors led 56-42 with 15:25 remaining.
Bradley added a layup, Lustig drained a 3-pointer and Brown finished with a layup as LC State pushed the lead back up to 16 on a 7-2 run. Once again, the Owls did not go away. Cooper shot a jumper, Fraser added a jumper of his own, Yanni Fassils added two free throws and another Cooper basket cut the lead down to seven, 63-56 off the 9-0 run.
After a Brown layup, Raynor put the offense on his back. The junior scored the next eight points for LC State with a pair of free throws and two from distance. The lead was back at 12, 70-58, with 7:55 to go.
Fouls and free throws were the story of the second half. There were a combined 27 fouls committed and 35 free throws attempted.
“We have a couple of really tough road trips coming up that will test us,” Johnson said. “Trusting we can keep improving and sticking together.”
UP NEXT
The Warriors travel to Portland, Ore., to take on Warner Pacific on Friday and Multnomah on Saturday to begin a four-game road trip.
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