DILLON, Mont. – Cory Dollarhide had the eight 3-point goals that powered the Lewis-Clark State all night long but down the stretch there were heroes everywhere as the Warriors escaped Montana-Western with a 101-96 double overtime victory.
 
"That was as hard a fought win as we have had," coach Brandon Rinta said after the victory over the eighth-ranked team in the country. "We are down to 10 guys now and it took all of them to win this one.
 
"Western is one of the top teams in the nation and we need to have some guys step up to give ourselves a chance in their gym."
 
The 19^th-ranked Warriors (18-6, 7-5) snapped a four-game skid with the victory that puts them in third as the race for the conference title heats up.
 
The second overtime started with the score knotted at 88. Dane Abe put the Warriors up by two, 90-88, only to have the Bulldogs with a field goal and free throw to take a one-point lead. Trea Thomas put the Warriors back on top, 92-91, with two free throws and Dollarhide struck from 3 again for the four-point, 95-91, lead with 2:21 to go.
 
Two free throws by UMW trimmed the LC lead back to two, 95-93, before Jeremy Franklin was sent to the line and cashed in for a 97-93 Warrior lead. A 3-pointer by the Bulldogs and they were within one with 1:16 to go before Dana Abe added a field goal and Thomas drilled two more free throws with :30 remaining to secure the victory.
 
The Warriors had deficits of as many as 16 points in the first half but they raced through the final eight minutes on a 23-9 run to close the gap to two, 44-42, on one of Dollarhide's 3s as time expired in the opening 20 minutes.
 
"There were a lot of things that did not go our way," Rinta said. "Mainly how we started."
 
Western pulled back out to a nine-point lead early in the second half but LC responded to take the lead, 63-61, on yet another Dollarhide 3 with 10:45 left in regulation. The Warriors went up by seven once and six, 84-78, with 1:32 to play but the Bulldogs battled back and never let the visitors out of their sites in the race down the stretch.
 
Dollarhide, whose eight 3s are second-most in a single game in Warrior history, finished with 24 points. Dana Abe had 22, Andre McCowan 17 and Damek Mitchell 11. While Abe lead the Warrior rebounders with eight, there were back-to-back offensive rebounds by Derek White that provided crucial opportunities late in the game. He finished with six and McCowan had seven.
 
"Andre got us going in the first half," Rinta said, "and Cory kept coming up with big shot after big shot. Same with Dana. Dana was attacking and rebounding all night long."
 
The Warriors are back at the Activity Center next week for a Thursday game against Providence and a Saturday matchup with Montana State-Northern. Tipoff is 7:30 both nights.