LEWISTON, Idaho – When things came together for Lewis-Clark State's men's basketball team, they came together fully and enabled the Warriors to send
Trea Thomas and
Jeremy Franklin out on a Senior Night winning note with an 80-69 victory over Montana Tech.
The Saturday night Frontier Conference victory helped solidify the Warriors stand among the league leaders with a 21-7 overall record, 10-6 in the conference. Montana Tech dropped to 11-16 overall, 3-13 in league action.
Coach
Brandon Rinta could point to myriad factors that were crucial in determining the outcome. There was inspired defensive play as the second half unfolded, stellar rebounding throughout, shooting that at times was dazzling, and the ability of all the players to make up for injuries that have sidelined three Warriors.
"The most important stat is our ability to outrebound them by 19," Rinta said.
That effort was led by Franklin, who had 10 of LC's 38 rebounds (the Orediggers had just 19).
Dana Abe, who drew praise for his energy, had six and
Race Martin and
Cory Dollarhide had five each.
And of course there was Martin, who was eight-of-12 from the field – with two 3s, to lead the Warriors with 20 points. Joining him in double figures were Abe with 19, and Thomas and
Damek Mitchell with 11 each.
"We found a good rhythm where our guys were aggressive but not forcing it," Rinta said. "That's where we want to be."
He also likes where his team is headed defensively.
"Our guys came out and," Rinta said, "at least for the middle 10 minutes of the second half, were where we wanted to be defensively."
That just happened to coincide with the run that enabled them to push out to the double-digit leads they would maintain for the remainder of the game.
"I'll give these guys credit," Rinta said. "We had some guys step up tonight."
The Warriors are on the road to close out the regular season with a Thursday night game at Carroll College (second in the conference at 11-5) and a Saturday afternoon game at Rocky Mountain (fourth in the league at 8-8).
