LEWISTON, Idaho – Andre McCowan and David Shedrick notched their first career double-doubles and received double-digit efforts from four more of their Lewis-Clark State teammates as the Warriors romped past New Hope Christian, 119-69, in the Clearwater River Casino and Resort Classic Saturday night at the Activity Center.
 
Shedrick finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds, while McCowan had 18 points and 14 rebounds. Josiah Westbrook led all scorers with 23 points (he also had nine rebounds), Cordel Hankerson had 17 points, and Race Martin and Trystan Bradley each had 12. Damek Mitchell helped the cause with seven assists.
 
The Warriors locked up their third victory of the season (against one loss) by outscoring New Hope 43-9 in the last 11½ minutes of the game.
 
"I thought the guys were unselfish tonight," coach Austin Johnson said. "There were definitely some positives."
 
It took a while for that to become apparent as the Warriors muddled their way through the first minutes of the game.  It wasn't until Westbrook drilled back-to-back 3s that LC started to assert itself. His first enabled the Warriors to build their first double-digit lead, 39-29, with 6:43 left in the half. He expanded that to 13 points, 42-29, with another 3 at the 6:43 mark.
 
The Deacons matched the Warriors on their next couple of possessions but LC's defense started to mirror the offensive energy to shut down New Hope. Over the final 5:56 of the half, the Deacons managed just two points while the Warriors continued to roll en route to a 55-36 halftime lead.
 
New Hope's offensive woes continued into the second half. The Deacons didn't score again until Geordan Sayles hit a 3-pointer with 18:56 to play. That barely impacted the Warrior advantage with LC still sporting a 20-plus lead, 60-39, after the shot. New Hope would close to within 16 twice but the momentum clearly had gone to the Warriors as they almost doubled (66-34) the Deacons' second-half output.
 
"I thought we started the second half a lot better," Johnson said. "It's not just about winning. It's about getting better. Getting better is what matters. Getting better is what's going to allow you to win at the end of the season.
 
"Not playing the scoreboard but how do we get better."
 
Playing short-handed, playing back-to-back in less than 24 hours, and coming off a hard-fought battle in their loss to College of Idaho Friday night combined for the type of test to challenge the Warriors' moxie.
 
"There were a lot of learning lessons tonight," Johnson said.
 
At the end of the day, LC more than doubled New Hope on the boards, 64-25, and had more offensive rebounds (26) than the Deacons had total rebounds. That led to 36 second-chance points. The Warriors shot 51.1 percent from the field and had 40 points off the bench.
 
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP – Talon Pinkney (College of Idaho)
Race Martin (Lewis-Clark State College)
Jalen Rose (New Hope Christian)
Nate Bruneel (College of Idaho)
Justin Dunsmore (Montana State-Northern)
Gibson Berryhill (College of Idaho)