Men's Basketball | 03.20.2019
Box Score KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After trailing by as many as 13 in the second half, the No. 7 Lewis-Clark State men's basketball team fought their way back to a 71-70 win over the Campbellsville Tigers in the opening round of the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. The Warriors trailed 36-30 after the first 20 minutes before coming back in the second half to outscore the Tigers 41-34.
Trystan Bradley dropped 10 points in the final 13 minutes of the Warriors' comeback, including the game-winning free throws in the final minute.
"I am extremely proud of this group for finding a way to win on the national stage when we didn't have our best stuff," coach
Austin Johnson said. "Trystan (Bradley) and Dana (Abe) were great inside and Josiah (Westbrook) hit some huge shots. Cordel (Hankerson) and Derrick (White) were huge all game defensively."
Derrick White put LC on top first with a layup 30 seconds in.
Dana Abe hit a three to bring the lead to 5-0 a minute into play. After a quick four points by the Tigers,
Damek Mitchell and
Cordel Hankerson went back-to-back to grow the lead back to 9-4. Bradley added a 3 to bring the run to seven points.
Josiah Westbrook completed a four-point play at 12:26 to give LC an 18-11 advantage, but Campbellsville came charging back to tie the contest 18-18 midway through. The Tigers took their first lead of the game at 9:30 with a layup.
The Warriors snapped a 12-0 run by Campbellsville at 7:05 when Abe dropped in a layup to cut the deficit to 23-20. Abe and Westbrook went back-to-back for five Warrior points but the Tigers managed to keep a narrow lead.
At the close of the first half, Campbellsville led 36-30.
The Tigers drew first blood in the second half with two-straight baskets to grow their lead to 10 points. A free throw from Bradley was followed by a bucket by Abe at 18:14 to get the offense going for the Warriors. The teams continued to trade baskets with Campbellsville maintaining nearly a 10-point cushion. Their largest lead of the contest came at 13:30 with the Tigers ahead by 13.
Bradley added three-straight Warrior baskets as he went head-to-head with the Tigers' Andrew Smith. The two took turns scoring before
Cory Dollarhide drew a foul and made both free throws. Westbrook nailed a 3 on a fast break, with an assist from White at 7:20, and
David Shedrick hit a 3 of his own 30 seconds later to bring the score to 63-59 in favor of the Tigers. White brought LC within two at 6:21.
Hankerson knotted the score 67-67 with a jumper with 3:00 on the clock and Bradley put the Warriors back in front with an assist from Mitchell at 2:28. A pair of the free throws gave the Tigers back the lead with a minute and a half to play, but a foul sent Bradley to the free throw line to give the Warriors a 71-70 advantage.
The Warrior defense did not budge in the final seconds as LC held their lead and won 71-70.
Bradley scored 10 points for LC in the final 13 minutes of the contest, including the game-winning free throws with 1:22 to play. He totaled 16 points and two blocks on the day.
Abe led the Warriors with 18 points and seven rebounds, and Westbrook had 13 points including four 3-pointers.
"We stuck to our defensive identity and attacking the rim the last 15 minutes, and that was the difference against a very good Campbellsville team," Johnson said. "We'll regroup and start to prepare for our next-round game."
With the win, the Warriors improve to 28-6 on the season and move on to the second round to face the winner of No. 10 Vanguard and No. 23 William Penn on Friday at 12:15 p.m.
