LEWISTON, Idaho - The No. 18 Lewis-Clark State men's basketball team was running on all cylinders on Saturday afternoon when it put together one of its strongest performances of the season to upset the No. 2 Carroll College Fighting Saints. The Warriors controlled the game's tempo from the very beginning en route to their 70-55 victory.
 
"It was a grinded out game," coach Austin Johnson said. "It was a lot closer than the final score said. Carroll is so good and so physical. I was really proud of our guys. It wasn't an easy game."
 
After Carroll scored the opening basket, the Warriors answered with eight straight and never looked back. Dana Abe got LC on the board in the first minute to even the contest at two before Trystan Bradley put the Warriors in front 4-2 a minute later. He added a second-straight bucket and Abe capped the run at 16:15 and LC led 8-4.
 
Leading 11-9, the Warriors went on a seven-point tear that featured a pair of baskets from Cory Dollarhide and one from Derrick White.
 
At one point trailing by nine at 20-11, the Saints mounted a comeback to rally within four at 22-18 before David Shedrick took a pass from White and hit a 3 to push the lead back to 25-21 halfway through the first half.
 
At 2:35 White came up with a swift steal to take the ball all the way back for a layup and put the Warriors up 32-23, and with under two to play Cordel Hankerson drilled 3-pointer to build the lead to 12.
 
The Warriors led 35-26 at the half.
 
Hankerson opened the second half with a foul shot, but Carroll quickly responded with a 3. Hankerson shot a 3-pointer of his own to keep LC in front by 11 at 39-28, before White dropped in layup at 16:52 to force a Saints timeout with the Warriors leading 41-30.
 
White put back an offensive rebound, and Abe took a steal back to the other side of the court before dishing it to White to grow the advantage to 47-32 with 14:55 to play.
 
Dollarhide continued the offensive barrage with a 3-point shot at 11:45, and Josiah Westbrook hit one of his own two minutes later to bring the lead to 55-39.
 
The seniors stepped up in a big way on their day. Abe led the offense with 16 points, White dropped 15 and Hankerson added 12. White led the rebounding efforts with eight boards and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor.
 
The defense forced 21 Saints turnovers and held one of the top teams in the nation to a 35 percent shooting percentage. The Warriors had 10 steals compared to Carroll's six, and dished out 17 assists. Abe, White and Mitchell each had two steals and White and Mitchell both had five assists.
 
"I am really proud of our guys. Different guys stepped up and responded and made big plays," Johnson said. "We didn't think Carroll had seen our best defensive effort this year, and tonight we went out and proved it."
 
Seniors McCowan, Dollarhide, Hankerson, Abe, Race Martin, Shedrick and White were all honored in a pregame Senior Day ceremony before the final home game of the regular season.
 
This is the seventh year that LC has won at least 20 games in a season, and the first under Johnson.
 
"This is a special place from administration on down. That is why I came here and that is why so many people around the Northwest know this is a big-time program," Johnson said. "But it's not about the coaches, or the administration. It's about the players. There is a legacy of players here who do that right things to put their team and their program in a position to be successful."
 
The Saints were led by Shamrock Campbell and Ife Kalejaiye with 15 points each, while Jovan Sljivancanin had 10 rebounds.