LEWISTON, Idaho — No. 23 Lewis-Clark State opened the Clearwater River Casino & Lodge Classic with a 31-point, 84-53, victory over the Warner Pacific Knights Friday night at the Activity Center.

The Warriors wasted no time scoring with a 3-point shot from Josiah Westbrook less than a minute after tip-off to get the ball rolling. Westbrook and company kept their feet on the gas in building a 16-8 lead before forcing Warner Pacific into a timeout.

Following the timeout from the Knights, LC State continued to play pressure defense and didn't have any plans of slowing down on offense. Hodges Bailey splashed a 3-point shot home to make it a 34-23 Warrior lead with just over four minutes left in the first frame. A bank shot from Bob Boyd ended the half for the Warriors for a 43-31 lead over the Knights.

To start the second half, the Warriors picked up right where they left off, with a strong offense and an even stronger defense. A pair of free throws from Conner Moffatt with 8:34 left in the ballgame put the Warriors up 72-40.  

"Credit to our guys in the second half," coach Austin Johnson said. "We clamped down and did a much better job defensively."  

As a team, the Warriors shot 50 percent from the field, 41.7 percent from beyond the arc and 80 percent from the free-throw line. Travis Yenor Yenor led the way with 14 points with Westbrook finishing with 11 and Trystan Bradley scoring 10. Jake Albright was LC's leading rebounder with seven and Daylon Potts had six.