BUTTE, Mont. – Trystan Bradley drilled five 3-pointers and Hodges Bailey and Josiah Westbrook each added three from long range as the Lewis-Clark State men's basketball team rallied to beat Montana Tech 89-81 in a Frontier Conference game Saturday night.
 
Westbrook scored the first basket of the game for the Warriors but they wouldn't lead again until Westbrook's trey put them back on top 79-78 with 2:04 left in the game. In the meantime, LC – short-handed because of illness and left with just eight active players, trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half.
 
"Tonight our guys stepped up in another tough environment," coach Austin Johnson said after the Warriors improved to 10-1, 1-1 in conference. "I'm so proud of how each guy contributed and handed the adversity of the game.
 
"It wasn't always pretty but we got stops when we needed them and our ball movement down the stretch was tremendous."
 
They stayed on Tech's heels but weren't able to cut the Orediggers lead to less than eight until Bradley's 3 with 6:56 to play brought them to within five, 70-65. LC stayed within striking distance but faced a 10-point deficit, 78-68, after Tech's Troy Owens Jr. sank three free throws with 4:22 to play. In the next two minutes, Bradley sandwiched a Hodges' field goal with two 3-pointers as Tech went cold to pull LC within two, 78-76, with 2:48 remaining.
 
That paved the way for Westbrook's go-ahead basket, which Bradley followed with another 3 for a four-point Warrior lead, 82-78, with 1:12 to play. Damek Mitchell scored six successive free throws for LC and Jake Albright added a pair with six ticks left to close out the Warrior scoring.
 
LC hit 50 percent (30 of 60) from the field and connected on 11 of 19 (57.9 percent) of its 3-pointers. Bradley finished with 23 points with Bailey's tally coming to 22. Westbrook had 19 and Mitchell, who also had seven assists and nine rebounds, totaled 11. Albright pulled down 14 rebounds and Khalil Stevenson added six as the Warriors won that battled 45-31.
 
But, Johnson noted, every player in the abbreviated lineup contributed.
 
"(Daylon) Potts and (Bob) Boyd gave us a big spark early and we closed it down the stretch," Johnson said. "This weekend showed a lot about what we're capable of – even without a full roster."