LEWISTON, Idaho – The energy bill just doubled for the month at the Lewis-Clark State College Activity Center, thanks to what the Warrior men's basketball team did Saturday night.
 
Turning it up a couple of notches in the second half, the Warriors used a run of 21 straight points to turn out the lights on Yellowstone Christian College 101-53 in the final game of the Clearwater River Casino & Lodge Classic.
 
LCSC, 3-1 overall, led 39-24 at halftime, and then took off early in the second half with the 21-0 run for a 63-29 advantage. LCSC used its swarming defense to force a number of turnovers and create fast-break opportunities to eventually outscore Yellowstone Christian 52-16 during a 14-minute stretch.
 
"We held them to 24 points in the first half, which was good," LCSC coach Brandon Rinta said. "I told them in the locker room I'm never going to complain about that but the energy wasn't quite there. I like what we did in the second half defensively. We played with more energy. With how we are defending in the full court with pressing and trying to speed people up, there's got to be some energy to that. And that's what we saw in the second half."
 
The Warriors finished with a 25-0 advantage in fast-break points and a 31-2 advantage in points off of turnovers. LCSC forced 21 turnovers in the contest to create some easy transition baskets.
 
Of course, it didn't hurt to have the bench – led by Ty Higbie, Anthony Sullen and Jeremy Franklin – play a big role as well.
 
With LCSC's offense held to six points during the first six minutes, Higbie came off the bench and provided a nice spark with a jumper and a 3-pointer to put the Warriors ahead for good. The senior forward finished with a career-high 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field, including a 5-of-5 night at the 3-point line.
 
Sullen added 14 points and six steals, while Franklin chipped in 13 points and six rebounds. Higbie, Sullen and Franklin combined to go 16-of-24 from the field for 66.7 percent and also buried seven 3-pointers.
 
"I thought some guys really stepped up off the bench," Rinta said. "Ty Higbie, and Jeremy Franklin in particularly gave us some good energy off the bench, Obviously, when you knock down shots like Ty did, or when you making 3-pointers, that brings energy regardless. And when you knock down five of them, that's a pretty good night."
 
The Warriors had five players finished in double figures as sophomore guard Derrick White scored a career-high 14 points, while senior guard Doug McDaniel had 14 as well, along with six rebounds and four assists.
 
McDaniel, who had 21 points in the Warriors' loss to the College of Idaho on Friday night, was selected to the all-tournament team, along with John Chapman from Montana Tech, Aleksandar Brankovic of Yellowstone Christian, and Roosevelt Adams and Aziz Leeks of the College of Idaho, the latter earning MVP honors. College of Idaho went 2-0 in the tournament after the Coyotes defeated Montana Tech 62-46 in Saturday's other game.
 
The Warriors finished the night 34-of-73 from the field for 46.6 percent, including 13-of-35 from the 3-point line, 37.1 percent. LCSC also had a 49-38 rebounding advantage. Freshman Connor DeSaulniers led the Warriors with eight boards.
 
"The other stat that I like is 25 assists and 8 turnovers," Rinta said. "We had been doing a pretty good job, but I don't know if we have put up numbers like that where it's 25 and 8.  I thought the ball movement was great tonight."
 
Zavon Jackson, Trea Thomas, White, and McDaniel all finished with four assists apiece to help LCSC outscore Yellowstone Christian 62-29 in the final 20 minutes.
 
Abraham Nyok finished with a double-double for Yellowstone Christian, 4-9 overall, with team highs of 11 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Warriors will be on the road for their next six games. On Tuesday, LCSC plays at Walla Walla University before heading to Salem, Ore., next weekend for a tournament at Corban. The Warriors also play three games in Portland during Thanksgiving week.
 
LCSC's next home game will be the start of Frontier Conference play on Dec. 1 when it takes on the University of Great Falls at 7:30 p.m. at the Activity Center. LCSC will play all five of its games at home in December.