LEWISTON, Idaho – LC State Men's Basketball took control early and kept its foot on the gas to upend Warner Pacific University 93-65 on Friday. The Warriors shot 55% from the field and had five score in double-digits in the contest.
It was a career night for
Jayceon Smith who totaled 17 points, and
Peyton Knowles who made an impact in his first career start with six rebounds and three assists.
"Good team win. All 10 guys contributed and had an impact," coach
Austin Johnson said. "What really won the game was out defense in the first half. Things ended sloppy for us, but in the first half we were really guarding and shrinking the court which was awesome to see. It allowed us to get out in transition a bit and get a bit of a cushion. We will need to be even better tomorrow against a physical and high-level Multnomah team."
The win moves LC State to 16-5 on the season and 11-4 in Cascade Conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
LC State took an 8-0 lead out of the gate with five points from
Alton Hamilton and a 3 by
Taden King. Tallies by Hamilton and
MaCarhy Morris pushed the advantage to 15-5 at 14:49, and a 19-point run in the half put the Warriors in front with a firm 36-10 lead at 5:08.
A triple by
Peyton Nordland ended the first half with LC State leading 43-20.
Morris scored 14 points in the second half, starting with a 3-pointer on the first possession. He tallied the first five points of the frame and
John Lustig scored six points as part of an eight-point run to make it 56-24 by 15:46.
The teams went basket-for-basket throughout much of the second half. WPU cut the difference to as close as 26 points before 3-pointers by
Kellen Jedlicka and
Kasen Carpenter pushed the cushion back out to 30 points.
Smith, Knowles and Nordland added to the total in the final minutes of the 93-65 victory.
STAT RECAP
Morris tied for the game-high with 19 points and Smith scored his career-best 17 points on a 6-for-9 night from the field. He added four rebounds, four assists and three steals to his line. Lustig scored 12 points, as did Carpenter, and Hamilton tallied 11 with eight rebounds.
The Warriors outrebounded WPU 38-28 and only committed seven turnovers. LC State shot 55% from the field and 45.8% from 3-point range.
Nico Perez-LA Costa tied Morris with 19 points while Jurrien Sparks and Tre'von Cason each scored 13.
UP NEXT
The Warriors host Multnomah for the final time on Saturday starting at 6 p.m. in the P1FCU Activity Center.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
