LEWISTON, Idaho – Lewis-Clark State College's men's basketball team battled through the first half against Providence. Then turned on the gas in the second en route to an opening-round, 79-62 rout of the Argos in Frontier Conference Tournament action Tuesday night at the Activity Center.
 
The victory sends the Warriors to Dillon, Mont., Friday night for a 6 p.m. (PT) game against Montana-Western, which defeated Montana State-Northern 73-72 in its quarterfinal game. No. 1 Carroll College plays Rocky Mountain in the other semifinal matchup.
 
Balance, defense and ball control were keys for the Warriors. After leading by just 29-23 at halftime, they erupted for 50 second-half points off a 64.5 percent shooting effort (for the game they finished at 55.6).
 
"Our guys have been really dialed in defensively, have been able to find another level, and it's the perfect time of year to find that," coach Brandon Rinta said. "And tonight, they built on that a little bit and – against a team like Providence, for us to only have eight turnovers, that's a huge feat."
 
They steadily built their lead in the second half until a 12-4 run gave them a 17-point advantage and full control of the momentum. LC had leads of as many as 22 points before settling for the final 17-point margin for their 23^rd victory of the season and third in four outings over the Argos.
 
"It helps that this is the fourth time (we're playing Providence) and our guys, they know, they know what they need to do to be successful against this team," Rinta said. "But to be able to go out and execute it is a whole other thing."
 
The Warriors' assist-to-shots ratio was what Rinta likes to see with 18 assists on the 30 field goals they made. LC also made its way to a 33-28 rebounding advantage.
 
But what perhaps impressed Rinta the most was the Warriors throughout the lineup knew their roles and played them.
 
"I feel like I could have put anybody in there to finish the game," he said. "That's everybody, especially in the second half, everybody who went in there did something positive. And that's why we were able to build the lead that we did."
 
Jeremy Franklin led the way with 18 points and Race Martin had 16 points and eight rebounds. Andre McCowan added another 13 points and Cory Dollarhide had 10. Derrick White matched Martin's rebound effort with eight and had a team-high five assists – although every player who played had at least one assist and two points.
 
Note: The Warriors climbed one spot to 18^th in the NAIA poll. Carroll is No. 6 and Montana-Western is 11^th.