CALDWELL, Idaho – A 25-3 run in the first 8:50 of the second half gave the No. 23 Lewis-Clark State Men's Basketball team the cushion it needed to run away with a huge win over the No. 3 (NAIA DII) College of Idaho Yotes. The Warriors avenged their losses in the previous three meetings against the only other NAIA institution in the state of Idaho. Damek Mitchell and Jake Albright led LC State with 15 points each in the 76-56 victory, and Trystan Bradley notched his second double-double with 10 points and a team-leading 10 rebounds.
 
"It was another good team road win for our guys," coach Austin Johnson said. "They stuck to the game plan on both offense and defense and really played well for each other. It was a complete team win."
 
The Yotes put the first point in the board with a free throw just over two minutes into the contest, but Bradley hit a jumper at 16:12 to give LC State a 2-1 advantage. Albright added to the slow scoring game at 14:28 to put the Warriors up 4-3, and Travis Yenor drew a foul at 13:41 to force the first timeout with just seven points scored between the two teams.
 
Yenor took advantage of both foul shots to grow the lead to 6-3, but College of Idaho responded with a 3 to tie things up. Bradley put an offensive rebound back seven minutes in to put LC back in front 8-6, and he found Albright a minute later to make it 10-6. Jaxon Hughes joined in at 10:01 with a triple off an offensive rebound to make it seven in a row for the Warriors.
 
The Yotes knotted the score 16-16 with six minutes to play in the half before Albright put LC State back in the lead 18-16 at 4:34. A second-chance 3 by Mitchell at 3:46 stretched the lead to 21-18, and Josiah Westbrook nailed a 3-pointer with just over two minutes to play to make it 26-20. Albright hit a jumper with under a minute, and Yenor drained a 3 to play to hold off a C of I charge at the end of the half. The Warriors took a 31-27 lead into the locker room.
 
Yenor led LC State with seven points in the first half, and both he and Bradley grabbed five boards.
 
A 3-pointer by the Yotes brought C of I within one right out of the gate, the tied the contest with a free throw. Mitchell put the Warriors back in the lead with a jumper a minute in, and Westbrook drilled a 3 at 17:42 to push the advantage back out to 36-31.
 
With 16 minutes on the clock, Khalil Stevenson dropped in a layup over his shoulder, and Mitchell hit a 3 40 seconds later to make it 10 points in a row for the Warriors. Westbrook hit a 3 under pressure as the run grew to 13 points with a score of 44-31 at 14:27.
 
LC State continued to roll in the second half behind another five points from Yenor during the eighth minute. Mitchell drained another 3 at 11:30 with an assist from Albright.
 
With 6:20 on the clock, Bradley gave LC a 66-40 cushion with a jumper in the paint for the game's largest point differential at 26. The Warriors cruised to a 76-56 victory to remain undefeated at 8-0.
Mitchell and Albright led the Warriors with 15 each on the night, with Albright's total being a career-high. Yenor tied a career-best with 14 points and Westbrook added 11. Bradley led the defense with 10 rebounds while adding 10 points for his second-career double-double. Mitchell dished out six assists in the contest, and both he and Westbrook drained three 3-pointers.
 
As a team, the Warriors hit 12-of-15 free throws (80 percent) and shot 47 percent as a team. They outrebounded the Yotes 46-31 and put up 13 points off turnovers. LC State scored 16 second-chance points compared to C of I's six.
 
"We defended the 3 and were able to win the war on the glass despite being undersized," Johnson said. "We will get back to work this week and keep moving forward."
 
The Warriors face more Cascade Conference competition on Nov. 27 when they head to Walla Walla for a 4 p.m. matchup.