LEWISTON, Idaho – The good news for the Lewis-Clark State College men's basketball team is that it won't have to host Carroll College again this year. The bad news is that Carroll seems to like the LCSC Activity Center.
 
For the second time in as many games this season at Activity Center, Carroll rallied from behind in the final minute of play to escape with a win, this time 63-60 on Saturday night.
 
The contest was the regular-season final for both and gave Carroll the outright Frontier Conference title and No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, which opens Wednesday. Carroll is 25-5 overall and 15-3 in conference play.
 
LCSC, which already was guaranteed the No. 3 seed in the tournament, falls to 21-9 overall and 11-7 in league play.
 
In a meeting in January, LCSC led by one with less than 10 seconds left, but missed a free throw. Carroll then made two free throws with roughly three seconds left to claim a 73-72 win.
 
On Saturday, the Warriors took a 58-57 lead on Zavon Jackson's inside move with 1:09 left in the back-and-forth tussle. That's when Carroll came up with the play of the game.
 
With the shot clocking winding down, Carroll's Matt Wyman threw a pass to the corner, that teammate Ryan Imhoff immediately shoved back to Wyman. The sophomore then let go off a 17-foot jumper right before the shot clock went off and buried it to put Carroll ahead 59-58. After an LCSC miss, Carroll used four free throws in the final 17 seconds to counter a bucket by LCSC's Doug McDaniel and hold on for the win.
 
"That possession, the stop we needed we got," Rinta said. "We defended them for 30 seconds. Wyman had no other option than to shoot it, and it went in. That was 30 seconds of great defense, but that put them over the top there. We did everything we needed to do get that stop. It's unfortunate."
 
The Warriors got off to a slow start in the contest and missed their first eight shots. Carroll led by as much as 10 in the first half before it settled for a 32-25 advantage at halftime. The Warriors rallied in the second half and led by as much as eight with 7:58 left, but Carroll came through in the clutch.
 
If Carroll had lost, Montana Western would have tied Carroll for the league title and Montana Western would have been the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.
 
Jackson and McDaniel both posted double-doubles for the Warriors. Jackson finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, while McDaniel had 15 points and 10 boards. Trea Thomas added 10 for LCSC.
 
For the game, LCSC was 23-of-54 from the field for 42.6 percent, and 3-of-17 at the 3-point line, 17.6 percent.
 
"The difference was we didn't shoot it well enough to beat a team that good," Rinta said. "Against a team as good as Carroll, you have to shoot it better from the 3-point line than we did tonight."
Carroll was 25-of-61 from the field for 41 percent and 5-of-11 from the 3-point line for 45.5 percent.
 
"To hold them to 41 percent in the game, that is about 14 percent below their average on the season," Rinta said of his defense. "We fouled them a little bit too much in the second half, but even to keep them to only going to the line 12 times is something. We played hard."
 
The Warriors now turn their attention to the postseason when they will play host to No. 6 seed Great Falls at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the LCSC Activity Center. The conference tournament champion earns an automatic berth into the 32-team national tournament at Kansas City, while the others will have to wait for at-large berths.
 
"It's a brand new season," Rinta said. "We are on the bubble as far as Kansas City goes. And the only sure way to punch our ticket is to win three games (which would give LC the conference tournament title)."
 
NOTE:
Prior to Saturday's game, LCSC honored its four seniors – McDaniel, Jackson, Ty Higbie, and Isaiah Omamogho. "All four of these guys have had a great two-year run and have been a big part of what we have done," Rinta said. "To win 50 games in two years, I think that's third best in two-year stretches at LCSC. Hopefully, we have more to tack on to that. I told them I don't want their careers to end in Idaho or Montana, but in Kansas City, and we have more work to do if we want that to happen."