LEWISTON, Idaho –Using its defense to get the offense running at full speed, the Lewis-Clark State College men's basketball team put some marks in the program's record book with a 135-53 win over Northwest Indian College at the LCSC Activity Center on Sunday.
 
LCSC's point total tied for the third-highest Warrior total in a game. During the 1989-90 season, LCSC scored 178 points, while the second-highest total was 139 against the same Northwest Indian College porogram a year ago. LCSC also had 135 points against Sheldon Jackson in the 1985-86 season.
 
Sunday's 82-point margin of victory was the second-highest in program history. LCSC defeated Simpson 178-77 for the largest win.
 
It was the 39^th time in program history the Warriors have scored at least 110 points in a game and the 12^th time they have scored at least 120.
 
The Warriors scored 74 points in the paint on Sunday, including several on fastbreak opportunities after they forced 16 turnovers. The Warriors constantly pushed the basketball and gradually wore down their opponents. In the second half alone, LCSC outscored Northwest Indian College 74-18.
 
"We played good defense throughout, but specifically in the second half," LCSC coach Brandon Rinta said. "It seems like most of those 18 points there were in a little stretch where they hit some bang, bang, bang shots. If you take away those two minutes there, that was a good 20 minutes of defense there in the second half."
 
The Warriors had all sorts of numbers to be happy with. The team hit 50-of-79 shots from the field for 63.3 percent, and every player scored at least seven points and shot 50 percent or better from the field. Seven LC players wound up in double figures scoring, and Zavon Jackson posted a double-double in the first half alone. He finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds while playing less than half of the game.
 
The Warriors improved to 2-0 on the season as they also defeated Northwest Indian College 106-49 on Saturday. In both games, LCSC's quickness and athleticism was on full display in the transition game.
 
"I think that's going to make our defense all that much more important because I think that's going to be our best offense," Rinta said. "As much as we can get into the open court with this team we are going to be better off just because of the quickness that we have and our ability to finish in transition. We got a taste of that this weekend."
 
Doug McDaniel led the Warrior attack with 26 points, while junior transfer guard Anthony Sullen added 24 on 10-of-13 shooting. Most of his shots were layins as he put his quickness with the basketball on display. Trea Thomas added 14 points, while Jeremy Franklin had 13, Christian Davis 12, and Derrick White 10. Freshman post Connor Desaulniers added eight points and nine boards and helped the Warrior outrebound Northwest Indian College 64-21.  LCSC had almost as many offensive rebounds (15) as Northwest Indian did total in the game.
 
There were some things we wanted to focus in on this weekend and rebounding was one of them," Rinta said. "That's probably where we excelled the most. You have to give Zavon credit for 15 rebounds in 16 minutes and Connor to get nine rebounds in 18 minutes and yet Christian, Doug, and Ty (Higbie), we had some guys step up this weekend and chase some rebounds. That's what we were hoping to see."
 
In the first half, the Warriors broke the game open with an 11-0 run over a three-minute stretch to push their lead to 45-23. That run helped the Warriors outscore Northwest Indian College 27-12 over the final eight minutes of the half to give LCSC a 61-35 halftime lead.
 
In the first 20 minutes, LCSC scored 36 points in the paint and shot 57.5 percent from the field. Both of those statistics were helped by the Warriors' aggressiveness in driving the ball to basket and either converting on easy layins or kicking the ball back out to open shooters.
 
The second half was a Warrior onslaught as they outscored Northwest Indian College by 56 points.
 
Thomas finished with a team-high six assists and three steals, while White added five assists.
 
LCSC's next two contests will be exhibition games against in-state NCAA Division 1 programs. The Warriors travel to Boise on Friday to face Boise State at 6 p.m., PST, at BSU's Taco Bell Arena. LCSC then takes on the University of Idaho on Nov. 4 at 7 pm. In Moscow.
 
LCSC's next regular season games will come in the Clearwater River Casino and Lodge Classic at the LCSC Activity Center on Nov. 11-12. LCSC will face the College of Idaho on Nov. 11 and Yellowstone Christian College of Billings, Mont., on Nov. 12. Both games will be at 7 p.m.