LEWISTON, Idaho – A poor shooting night finally caught up with the Lewis-Clark State College men's basketball team at the end as the Warriors fell to Montana State-Northern 66-62 in overtime in Frontier Conference play at the LCSC Activity Center on Saturday night.

The Warriors, ranked No. 15 in the NAIA, fall to 9-3 on the season and 1-1 in conference play, while the Lights remain undefeated at 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the FC.

Despite shooting just 36.7 percent from the field, including 15.8 percent from the 3-point line, and also having issues at the free-throw line, the Warriors led by five points with less than five minutes left, and even led 62-60 in overtime before MSU-Northern scored the final six points to claim the win.

"The fact that we shot those percentages and turned it over 20 times, and still forced overtime, is a miracle," LCSC coach Brandon Rinta said. "That was a tough one there. Offensively, that is about as poor as we've played all year and you have to give their defense credit."

LCSC led by five points, 51-46, with 4:33 left in regulation. The Warriors, however, scored only two points during the next three minutes and were outscored 11-2 during the stretch as MSU-Northern grabbed a 57-53 lead with 59.7 seconds left.

LCSC answered with a free throw by Isaiah Omamogho with 45 seconds left, but the junior missed the second one. Free throws only magnified LCSC's shooting woes as the Warriors made only 15-of-27 at the line for 55.6 percent.

Still, LCSC was able to force a turnover and Derrick White hit a pair of free throws with 40.3 seconds left to cut the margin to one, 57-56.

MSU-Northern's Justin Dunsmore was fouled on a drive to the basket with 14.8 seconds left, but as he did earlier in the final minute of play, he made only one of two free throw attempts to put the Lights' lead at 58-56.

Thomas then forced overtime when he scored on a reverse lay-in with 4.5 seconds left to force overtime.

In overtime, Thomas scored on two drives to the basket to put LCSC ahead 62-60 with 1:35 left. Thomas, however, also missed the front end of one-and-one free throw situations twice in OT.

MSU-Northern took the lead for good when senior forward David Straughter scored on a drive to the basket and made the ensuing free throw. He then made 3-of-4 free throws in the final 16.5 seconds to seal the win.

LCSC finished the game 22-of-60 from the field and 3-of-19 at the 3-point line.

"They are always a good defensive team, but we have to shoot it better," Rinta said. "We've got to shoot it better from the floor, we've got to shoot it better from the 3, and we've got to shoot it better from the free throw line."

The Warrior defense also forced MSU-Northern into 20 turnovers and held the NAIA's top 3-point shooting team to just a 4-of-23 effort, 17.4 percent. MSU-Northern was 26-of-64 from the field, 40.6 percent.

"They came in as the best 3-point shooting team in the nation and we held them 17 percent from the 3-point line, but at the same time we got beat off the bounce a little too much, and gave up 12 offensive rebounds," Rinta said. "And they came up with one more play than us."

Doug McDaniel finished with a double-double for the Warrior as he had 13 points and 14 rebounds. Thomas added 12 points while Anthony Sullen had 10.
Rinta said the 20 turnovers committed by LC also was disappointing.

"This past weekend we did not take care of the basketball either game," he said. "We have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. When we shoot it like this, we are not going to win many games, plain and simple, but we've got to do a better job. If you look at the things we can control, not turning the basketball over, and not giving them 12 offensive rebounds, we've got to be more solid in those categories."

White re-injured his ankle late in the game. White sprained his ankle a week ago and missed two games. His status for LCSC's next game on Dec. 18 at home against Portland Bible is unknown at this time.

The Warriors only have three more games during the month of December, and all will be at home. As well as the 2 p.m. contest on Dec. 18, LCSC will host Walla Walla University a day later on Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. LCSC resumes Frontier Conference play on Dec. 31 against Montana Tech at 5:30 p.m.