Men's Basketball | 02.09.2017

Box Score LEWISTON, Idaho ­– Right when it looks like things may head south on the Lewis-Clark State College men's basketball team this season, they instead head in the opposite direction.
 
Apparently, adversity has nothing on this team.
 
Thursday night, the Warriors appeared to be in trouble again when Montana State-Northern ripped off 15 straight points in the second half to open up a seven-point lead with 11 minutes remaining.
 
For LCSC, however, it wasn't a problem. The Warriors responded with an 11-0 run to regain the lead and then came up with key plays down the stretch to capture a 71-67 Frontier Conference win at the LCSC Activity Center.
 
The win was the sixth in the last seven games for the Warriors, who have battled through a variety of injuries and adversity this season. LCSC is now alone in third place in the conference standings at 9-5 and is 19-7 overall. MSU-Northern falls to 8-6 in league and 18-7 overall. Because LCSC won two of the three regular-season meetings, LCSC also owns the tiebreaker over Northern if the two teams should wind up tied in the conference standings.
 
"That's a big win for us," LCSC coach Brandon Rinta said. "We have the tiebreaker on them now so that was a big win."
 
The Warriors played their seventh straight game without a player taller than 6-foot-5 because of injuries. The five-guard offense, however, has paid off well as the team continues to make its late-season run.
 
"What were we, 2-3 to start league?" Rinta asked. "And now to be 9-5. That is a testament to this team, especially with the injuries we've had. We just have continued to stick together and improved over the course of the season and have put ourselves in a good position with four game left."
 
With Christian Davis hitting a 3-pointer and a shot inside, the Warriors took a 33-25 halftime lead on Thursday and seemed to be in control.
 
After the lead went to 10 to start the second half, Northern went on a 21-4 run, including 15 straight points over a three-minute stretch, to grab a 48-41 advantage.
 
"We didn't have quite the same defensive energy there that we had earlier and they took advantage of it," Rinta said. "We were a little bit relaxed coming out of the gates and they were scoring at the rim on us."
 
Northern kept the advantage until around the eight-minute mark when Zavon Jackson's floater started an 11-0 run. Trea Thomas scored five points during the run that put LCSC ahead 62-57.
 
MSU-Northern cut the lead to two twice in the final minute, but Doug McDaniel tipped in his own miss with 40.6 seconds left to make it 69-65. Cameron Epps then scored for Northern with 9.9 seconds left to again cut the lead to two, but McDaniel hit two free throws with 7.7 seconds left for the final.
 
"I just felt like defensively, we stepped it up a few clicks there," Rinta said about the comeback. "I give our guys a lot of credit for cranking the defense back up and getting the lead back, and then protecting it down the stretch."
 
McDaniel led four Warriors in double figures with 22 points. He also had five rebounds, three assists, and a steal. Jackson added 14 points and seven boards, while Thomas and Anthony Sullen added 10 points apiece. Thomas had four assists, while Sullen collected a season-high five steals.
 
Davis finished with seven points.
 
For the game, LCSC was 29-of-54 from the field for 53.7 percent, and 4-of-17 from the 3-point line, 23.5 percent. MSU-Northern was 27-of-57 from the field, 47.4 percent, and 7-of-23 from the 3-point line, 30.4 percent.
 
MSU-Northern did have a 32-25 rebounding advantage over the smaller Warriors and also had 11 offensive rebounds. However, Northern struggled to make something happen with those second-chance opportunities and only finished with 10 second-chance points, while LCSC had eight second-chance points.
 
The Warriors continue play on Saturday when they take on the University of Great Falls at 7:30 p.m. at the LCSC Activity Center. LCSC currently trails second-place Montana Western by 1.5 games. The top two finishers in the regular season receive first-round byes in the conference tournament, while the No. 3 and No. 4 finishers will play first-round games at home.
 
Saturday's contest could be a prelude to the conference tournament. If the season ended today, LCSC would be the No. 3 seed and Great Falls the No. 6 seed and the two would meet in the first round of the conference tournament.