LEWISTON, Idaho – Junior
Travis Yenor said it best when he said, "We had to grind like this to shine like that." And grind they did. In front of a rowdy crowd in the LCSC Activity Center on Monday night, the No. 7 Lewis-Clark State Men's Basketball team became Frontier Conference Champions for the last time, defeating No. 17 Carroll College for the second-straight year. The Warriors dominated the court, making big defensive stops and shooting the lights out to earn a 75-54 victory on their home court.
"This means a lot," junior
Damek Mitchell said. "It's our last year. We have the toughest road trips; we wear our hard hats and we go get it done every week. I think we're the toughest team in the Frontier – by far."
When the going gets tough, the tough win Frontier Conference Championships. After the best regular season in program history (27-3), the Warriors claimed one final victory in the Frontier Conference.
"It's a great feeling," Mitchell added, "but we're not done yet.
Every Warrior got in the game, and every Warrior made an impact.
Josiah Westbrook led the offense with 19 points including five 3-pointers. LC State shot over 56 percent from the field in the win.
"Our guys were dialed in," coach
Austin Johnson said after winning his second conference title in as many seasons. "It feels awesome to be the coach of those guys. Those individuals are what has made this team and this program special. It feels awesome.
"I didn't know how talented or athletic we would be, or all those intangibles," Johnson added, "but the most important intangible is toughness, and that's what this team has. They've shown that the whole year."
Westbrook got the night started with a 3 out of the gate. He scored five-straight points as LC held the Fighting Saints off the board for the first four minutes. Another bucket from Westbrook was followed by a 3-pointer by Mitchell to make it 10-4 at 14:22.
Yenor put up five-straight LC State points to kick the lead out to 10, 24-14, with 6:43 to play in the half. As the clock ran down under three minutes, Mitchell sparked a 9-0 run that featured buckets from
Bob Boyd and
Jake Albright to close out the half with the Warriors up 37-25.
Westbrook opened the second half the same way he did the first, by draining a 3. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Westbrook and Yenor pushed the advantage to 50-35 at 14:02, and Yenor and Albright combined for eight in a row to make it 58-39 midway through.
A basket by
Hodges Bailey gave LC its largest lead of the night with a 26-point margin (72-46) with 3:28 to play. A triple by
Jaxon Hughes closed the game with the Warriors in front 75-54.
Westbrook led LC with 19 points, including five 3-pointers. Yenor scored 15 points, Albright had 13 and Mitchell added 12.
Trystan Bradley grabbed nine boards and Mitchell had eight rebound to go with eight assists.
The Warriors shot 56.3 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3. They were 10-for-11 from the free throw line. They outrebounded Carroll 34-21 and had 19 assists compared to Carroll's eight.
LC State held down Carroll's top offensive threats, limiting Shamrock Campbell and Dane Warp to 12 points each. Warp grabbed eight boards.
"Hodges was awesome," Johnson explained about the junior's ability to contain Warp. "We made no adjustments. I told people our adjustments were we were going to play better.
Hodges Bailey was an animal. That was as impressive a championship defensive effort as I've seen.
"In terms of how we played, you couldn't ask for a better final game going into the national tournament."
The Warriors earned the Frontier Conference's automatic bid into the NAIA DI Men's Basketball National Championships in Kansas City later this month. LC State will see what the bracket looks like and who it will face first on Wednesday at 5 p.m. PT via the NAIA's Facebook page.
Stay tuned to lcwarriors.com and all social media outlets for information as it is released.
