Men's Basketball | 03.18.2021
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Warriors are in Kansas City and ready to begin the final leg of the 2020-21 journey. LC State Men's Basketball took an 18-1 record into the Opening Round before upending Benedictine-Mesa in a 98-73 victory to punch the ticket to the Round of 16. The Warriors will face an opponent unfamiliar to the team as a whole, but familiar to Head Coach
Austin Johnson in his alma mater, Oklahoma Wesleyan. LC State earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament and will face the No. 14 seed.
No. 6 LEWIS-CLARK STATE WARRIORS: 19-1, 0-0
The Warriors have been hot from the start with their only loss of the season coming against then-No. 5 Arizona Christian. LC State found success against NCAA DIII stronghold Whitworth with back-to-back wins in Spokane, and swept a talented College of Idaho team (74-71 and 80-71) in the Cascade Conference tournament.
The Warriors continued to dominate the court in the victory over BenU-Mesa in the Opening Round in Lewiston.
Khalil Stevenson led the team with a career-high 22 points to go with five assists and three rebounds.
Travis Yenor added 20 points,
Damek Mitchell scored 18,
Trystan Bradley had 16 and
Hodges Bailey dropped 12. LC State shot 54.2 percent from the field as a team.
Mitchell was voted the Cascade Conference Player of the Year after another strong season. During his senior campaign, Mitchell became the LC State Men's Basketball leader in 3-pointers made and continued to build on his assist record. He is averaging 14.9 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game and 4.8 assists per game heading into Friday's action. He is shooting 46.8 percent from the field, 43 percent from 3 and 79.4 from the free throw line. He ranks 40
th in the NAIA in assists per game.
Bailey was named the CCC Defender of the Year for his work guarding the perimeter. LC State has held opponents to 65.8 points per game and a .377 shooting percentage this season. Bailey leads the Warriors the 3-point field goal percentage (.473), and averages 12.5 points per game. He ranks 30
th in the NAIA in 3-point field goal percentage.
Bradley, along with Mitchell and Bailey, was named All-Cascade Conference after leading LC State in scoring this season. The Lewiston native averaged a team-best 16.3 points per game and brought down 6.4 boards per game. The forward, with shooting skills of a guard, hit 49.3 percent of his shots from the field and 36.3 percent from 3. He joined the 1,000-Point Club this season.
As a team, the Warriors rank third in the NAIA in defensive rebounds per game (32.9), fourth in field goal percentage defense (.377) and fifth in scoring margin (21.0). They are also in the top 10 in scoring defense per game (65.8), total rebound margin (10.1), field goal percentage (.510) and total rebounds per game (42.7).
No. 20 Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles: 21-6, 15-4
Three of the OKWU's six losses this season have been to 12
th-seeded Bethel (Kan.). The Eagles road an eight-game winning streak into the KCAC tournament before falling to Bethel for the third time, but returned to the win column during the Opening Round in Park City, Kan.
Oklahoma Wesleyan upset No. 11 Science & Arts (Okla.) to earn its spot in the Round of 16. The Eagles were a No. 2 seed in the Opening Round and defeated the Drovers 100-73 after taking down Park (Mo.) 93-65.
Two OKWU players earned All-KCAC honors, with Brooks Haddock being voted to the first team and Kaleb Stokes being tabbed second team.
Haddock is averaging 14.9 points per game and is shooting 45.8 percent from 3-point range heading into Friday. He has been solid at the free throw line (.882). Haddock ranks fifth in the NAIA in total 3-pointer made (82) and 29
th in 3-pointers made per game (3.0). He is 43
rd in 3-point field goal percentage.
Stokes led the team in scoring (17.1 points per game) and rebounding (6.6 rebounds per game) while shooting 53.8 percent from the field. He ranks 31
st in the NAIA in total scoring (461 points).
The Eagles rank fourth in the NAIA in total rebound margin (13.0), fifth in 3-pointer made (302) and seventh in 3-pointer made per game (11.2). They are also in the top 10 in total rebounds per game (44.0), total rebound offense (1,189) and offensive rebounds per game (13.7).
DETAILS
The first game for LC State in Kansas City, Mo. will be played on Friday, March 19 at 1:45 p.m. PT. The winner will advance to play in the NAIA National Quarterfinal on Saturday, March 20 at 2 p.m. PT against the winner of No.6 Marian (Ind.)/No. 11 Loyola (La.).
All games aside from the championship game will be streamed on the
NAIA Network for a charge. The national title game will be streamed on ESPN3. Live stats will be available via DakStats, and all links can be found on the men's basketball schedule page on lcwarriors.com. The game will be carried on KOZE.
Stay up to date on all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
