DILLON, Montana – It rained 3 pointers on Thursday night when the No. 13 Lewis-Clark State Men's Basketball team defeated the Montana Western Bulldogs 91-63. The Warriors hit 15 3s, led by four from Trystan Bradley. The junior led the team with 20 points while Damek Mitchell finished the contest one rebound shy of a triple-double.
 
"It was a good effort on the road for our guys tonight," head coach Austin Johnson said. "It was back-and-forth but we ended the first half with some momentum which really helped going into the locker room."
 
The Warriors were in control from the tip. Khalil Stevenson dropped in a layup 30 seconds into the first half and Hodges Bailey followed with a 3 pointer, both on assists from Mitchell. Bradley nailed back-to-back 3s to grow the lead to 11-3 by 16:16. Bailey kept the triples coming with his second of the game a minute later to make it a nine-point run. By midway through the half, the Warriors held a 23-14 advantage.
 
Stevenson, Jaxon Hughes, Jake Albright, Bailey and Bradley all contributed to the growing lead, and by the 7:00 mark in the first Bradley had dropped 14 points.
 
Bradley added two more at 6:54 to push the lead to double digits, but the Bulldogs found a groove to pull within five at 37-32 with 2:13 left in the half. Hughes buried a triple with 40 seconds remaining to make it 40-33, and Bailey hit a 3 at the buzzer to send LC State into the locker room with a 43-33 advantage.
 
A 3 from Bradley got the offense going for the Warriors in the second half as the lead extended out to 15 points by the 16:30 mark (50-35). He continued to nail triples, with another coming at 16:07, before Stevenson found the basket to make it a 20-point (55-35) lead 10 seconds later. Hughes sparked a 10-point rally with a 3 at 12:10. Jake Albright added back-to-back buckets and Mitchell capped it with a 3 to bring the score to 72-46 at 10:28.
 
Josiah Westbrook joined the scoring barrage with a 3 pointer at 8:16 to grow the advantage to 30 at 78-48. LC State cruised to a 91-63 victory over the Bulldogs.
 
"In the second half we did a better job of valuing the basketball and containing pentration. As the stats show we got production from every guy and that's what we'll need on Saturday against a very talented Rocky Mountain team," Johnson said.
 
Bradley led all scorers with 20 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Mitchell tied a career-high with nine rebounds and finished the night one board shy of a triple-double. He totaled 12 points and 11 assists and now sits one rebound behind Pat Sobotta for second all-time.
 
Hughes dropped 12 points, while Bailey and Westbrook added 11.
 
As a team, LC State nailed 15 3s (15-31). The Warriors shot 52 percent from the field (33-63) and 49 percent from behind the arc. They out-rebounded UMW 37-30, had 20 assists and forced 13 turnovers.
 
The Warriors, now 14-1 overall and 2-1 in Frontier Conference play, continue the road trip on Saturday. They take on Rocky Mountain College at 3 p.m. PT.