HAVRE, Mont.  – Damek Mitchell became Lewis-Clark State College's all-time assist leader Friday night as the 12^th-ranked Warriors dispatched Montana State-Northern 56-45 to win their 10^th successive game and improve to 19-1 overall, 7-1 in Frontier Conference action.
 
Mitchell, still a junior with more than a full season to play, made the historic play with a pass to Josiah Westbrook with 16:59 remaining in the first half of Friday's action. That assist gave him 406 – in less than three full seasons, to push him past Trea Thomas' 405 from 2014-18.
 
"It is impressive the mark that Damek set tonight," coach Austin Johnson said. "It shows how good he is as a player and also his willingness to help make his teammates better.
 
"What sets him apart is his willingness to buy in and the trust he has in the program to help make him better. I'm lucky to coach him."
 
Friday's came in a game that saw the Warriors' double-digit first half leads disappear and the reappear as the second half wore on. With seven players chipping in, LC built a 23-9 lead on a Jake Albright field goal with 6:59 left in the opening half. But Northern, as it is known to do, found ways to whittle away at the lead to trail by just five heading into the halftime locker rooms.
 
The Lights (12-9, 2-7) found their way to stay on the heels of the Warriors in the second half until LC put together an 8-0 run to go up 42-29 midway through the second period. The Lights came back one more time to close to within eight, 42-34, but the Warriors went on another run – this one nine points, to take control and go on to win with their lowest point total of the season and a tally that was 35 points lower than their season average.
 
"It was a super tough effort on the road by our guys," Johnson said. "Northern is a challenging team to defend as they run so many different sets and actions. We took away some of their key guys and got better defensively as the game went on.
 
"Khalil (Stevenson), Jake and Jaxon (Hughes) gave us a tremendous lift on both sides of the ball."
 
Albright led the Warriors with 13 points and six rebounds with Travis Yenor adding 12 points and Westbrook finishing with 10. Mitchell wound up with five assists and Trystan Bradley led the rebounding effort (33-29) with nine.
 
"Tonight was big but it just makes (Saturday) an even bigger one," Johnson said. "We will need to move on quickly and execute better against Providence."