LEWISTON, Idaho – With less than 30 seconds on the clock, LC State junior
Nathan Fromm tallied back-to-back baskets to send the Warriors onto the semifinal round of the Cascade Conference Championship, presented by U.S. Bank. LC trailed at the half and battled with the sixth-seeded Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers before regrouping in the final minutes to earn a 58-57 victory.
Fromm's dunk put LC within one before a turnover forced by strong defense by
Oreon Courtney gave the Warriors back the ball. Fromm dropped in a layup to complete the comeback.
"Our guys showed a ton of guts and togetherness tonight against a very tough EOU team," Head Coach
Austin Johnson said. "We got just enough stops and the ball bounced our way late, but I'm so proud of our guys for staying in a position to win. We were great defensively in the second half and had great execution late to have Nate get some big buckets."
Silas Bennion drew first blood with a layup on the Warriors' first possession. EOU drained a 3 to start the opposing offense, but
Khalil Stevenson netted a triple to make it 8-6. Newsom and Courtney went back-to-back to give LC a four-point advantage by 12:41, and a 3 by Fromm had the advantage at 15-10 a minute later.
The Mounties kept things close, not letting the lead grow to more than five before jumping in front at 5:22. Free throws by Courtney and Bennion cut the deficit to 29-28 at the break.
Courtney put the Warriors up by one out of the gate in the second half, but EOU answered to continue the back-and-forth. The Mounties rallied to grow their lead to 36-31 three minutes in, but a 3 by Bennion cut the difference to three with 11:05 on the clock.
The two teams went basket-for-basket at the midway point of the half, and a triple by Fromm on an assist from Stevenson evened things 43-43. EOU gained momentum with a five-point run, but back-to-back buckets by
Al Sommerfield and Bennion made it a one-point game (48-47) with 5:56 to go.
Sommerfield drained a dagger of a 3 with 3:43 to go to give the Warriors a slight edge, and free throws by Bennion made it 54-50. The Mounties were relentless and bounced back to take a 57-54 lead with 32 seconds to play.
Fromm came off the bench with under 30 seconds to play and gave the Warriors they push they needed. The back-to-back buckets put LC in front 58-57 before the defense ended things.
Bennion led LC State with 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals. He was 7-for-8 from the free throw line. Fromm added 12 points on a 5-for-9 performance from the floor, and Courtney talled nine points and five rebounds.
The Warriors shot .438 from the floor and held EOU to just 25 percent (3-for-12) from 3-point range.
With an upset between No. 2 seed Oregon Tech and No. 7 seed Warner Pacific, the Warriors will host a semifinal in the P1FCU Activity Center on Saturday. LC State will take on fifth-seeded Southern Oregon at 7 p.m.
Tickets to Saturday's contest are on sale now at lcwarriors.com/tickets.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
