LC State women, men drop doubleheader to C of I

Darian Herring stood inside the key, ball raised above her head and eyes surveying the court.

Her next moves serenaded a bated-breathed P1FCU Activity Center.

The sound of “bounce, bounce, bounce-bounce BOUNCE” echoed off the gym walls as Herring’s dribble turned into a pass to Mataya Green, who raced along the baseline to sink the reverse layup, collect the and-1 and bring her teammates, coaches and fans out of their seats.

With the game tied at 55, Green drained the free throw and the Warrior women led by one with 45 seconds left in the game.

That proved to be too much time as College of Idaho regained the lead, Lewis-Clark State’s last-second shot hooked left and the Yotes beat the Warriors 58-56 in a Cascade Conference women’s basketball clash on Saturday in Lewiston.

The LC State men’s basketball team got off to a bleak start against the No. 2-ranked Yotes, falling behind by as much as 20 points within the game’s first 10 minutes.

The Warrior men lost 85-69 in the latter half of LC State’s pre-holiday home doubleheader.

Women’s game

A game that slipped away

The Yotes (5-5, 3-2 Cascade Conference) won the tipoff and found the bottom of the net in 29 seconds off of a Kylie Waltermeyer 3-pointer.

The Warriors (10-2, 4-2) went scoreless for nearly the first four-and-a-half minutes of Saturday night’s contest before Mataya Green put LC State on the board with a layup off of an Ellie Sander pass.

Sander gave the Warriors the lead off of a layup 32 seconds later.

After a bit of a slow start, the Warriors and Yotes tripled and quadrupled their scores, respectively, with the game tied 12-12 after 10 minutes.

C of I continued to pour on the points in the second quarter, outscoring the Warriors 20-13. LC State sophomore guard Tatum Brager went on a personal 5-0 run to 17-17, but the Yotes pulled ahead again to lead 32-25 at the halftime break.

The first several minutes of the third quarter seemed to bring more of the same for the Warriors. Many of their possessions led to banked shots or turnovers.

When it seemed like nothing was going in for LC State, it also seemed that everything was going in for the Yotes, including a 3-pointer which rattled off every inch of the rim before falling to the bottom of the nylon.

Then, the Warriors’ luck began to turn. Herring misfired a shot off the edge of the backboard, grabbed her own rebound, and fired it out to junior Sitara Byrd who banked out a 3-pointer.

Herring beat out all nearby Yotes for the second offensive board of the possession, putting it up and off the glass with 7:29 remaining in the third quarter.

LC State mounted a 31-23 run over the next 19 minutes and 15 seconds to take a one-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Yotes’ Ashton Adamson made the game-winning layup and Kylie Waltermeyer sank a free throw with one second left for the final margin.

The Yotes’ advantages

The Yotes walked into Lewiston with a lot to prove, facing the No. 13-ranked Warriors, while LC State was less than 24 hours removed from its first loss of the season. The Warriors lost 81-71 to Eastern Oregon on Friday.

C of I relied on a dominant shooting night and outpaced the Warriors 42-37% and 50-19% from beyond the arc, making 11 3-pointers to LC State’s four.

The Warriors carried out an advantage for themselves by winning the turnover battle, sporting nine turnovers to the Yotes’ 16 and tallying 12 steals.

Grangeville grad Camden Barger paced the Warriors in steals with four with Herring and Byrd each grabbed three.

Herring paced all Warrior scorers with 14 points.

LC State women’s basketball coach Caelyn Orlandi did not speak with the media after the game.

Men’s game

Warriors can’t keep up with No. 2 team

The Warriors (10-2, 5-1) won the tipoff versus the No. 2 team in the NAIA and immediately posted points.

In the 10 minutes after that, LC State saw almost every shot rattle off the rim, while every Yote attack glided through the net.

The Yotes (10-1, 7-0) drained five of their nine total 3-pointers within the first 12 minutes to carve out a 20-point lead.

The Yotes exhibited a remarkable ability to collect points from deep. College of Idaho’s 6-foot-5-inch senior guard Drew Wyman proved this early when he sent a 3-pointer gliding through the nylon with his back closer to midcourt than it was to the rim.

Wyman’s downtown connection was far from the only 3-pointer that the Yotes made. C of I shot 40% from deep, connecting on 9-of-22 shots from 3.

C of I guard Johnny Radford paced all scorers with 20 points and four 3-pointers.

LC State coach Austin Johnson said the Yotes were simply the bigger, more experienced team with multiple seniors and members of the past two NAIA tournament Final Four teams.

The 2023 Yotes won 33 straight games and did not lose until the Final Four. Last year’s College of Idaho team lost just three times.

“There’s a lot of experience, a lot of guys that have played together and know each other,” Johnson said. “So that always helps when you have that.”

What worked for the Warriors

LC State worked its way back from an early 20-point deficit and kept it within 10 points for much of the remainder of the game thanks in large part to the stand-up contributions from its two post patrollers — Alton Hamilton and Josh Salguero.

Johnson said that Hamilton continues to deal with an injury since going down against Carrol College, but has persevered and will benefit from the Warriors’ holiday break.

While Hamilton was 4-for-12 from the field for eight points, not all of his misses were missed opportunities.

With about 9:50 remaining in the game and the Warriors trailing by 11, Hamilton missed a layup.

Salguero, who filled in for Hamilton when he was out with an injury versus Walla Walla on Nov. 26, grabbed the board and posted the second-chance points to make it a three-possession game.

“He never backs down. He never stops being physical. He is who he is,” Johnson said of Salguero. “He’s gonna go hit someone. He’s gonna go be physical, so that’s really big for us.”

Johnson said the Warriors’ other offensive success came from Kasen Carpenter’s three 3-point shots and point guard MaCarhy Morris speeding up his game and raising his offensive profile in the second half.

Taden King paced the Warriors with 18 points and Morris added 16 on a steady 8-for-13 clip.

The Warriors earned a No. 15 NAIA ranking and have won 10 games and lost just two. Johnson said he assigns playing time based on defensive ability and not just shooting skill, which has led to fewer players seeing the floor early in the year.

“As time goes on, we’re gonna get to play more guys. I’m hoping they’ll earn more trust, but it’s tough,” Johnson said. “You want to develop guys, but you also want to win. Sometimes you can’t have both.”

Both the Warrior women and men take their respective losses into the holiday break.

“I learned that when we play well, we’re pretty good. When we don’t play well, we’re pretty bad,” Johnson said. “So how can we get more consistent, and how can I help get these guys over the hump?

“I love this group of guys. We’re so, so young and inexperienced but I love them. I’ll go to battle with them every day.”

WOMEN’S GAME

COLLEGE OF IDAHO (5-5, 3-2)

Waltermeyer 5-12 1-2 13, Mooney 5-9 0-0 13, Adamson 3-7 0-0 6, Riley 2-6 0-0 4, Beresford 1-5 0-0 2, Austin 5-12 0-0 15, Hirsch 1-1 0-0 3, Zimmermann 1-2 0-0 2, Hutchinson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 1-2 58.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (10-2, 4-2)

Herring 7-15 0-0 14, Sander 2-8 2-2 6, Byrd 2-10 4-4 8, Wilson 1-3 0-0 2, Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Brager 3-9 0-0 8, Barger 1-2 0-0 3, Beardin 0-1 0-0 0, Wallace 1-4 0-0 3, Green 5-6 2-3 12. Totals 22-59 8-9 56.

3-point goals — College of Idaho 11-22 (Waltermeyer 2-4, Mooney 3-4, Riley 0-2, Austin 5-5, Hirsch 1-1.) Lewis-Clark State 4-21 (Byrd 0-4, Sander 0-3, Barger 1-2, Brager 2-7, Wallace 1-2, Beardin 0-1, Nelson 0-1). Rebounds — College of Idaho 36 (Waltermeyer 8), Lewis-Clark State 33 (Herring 7, Green 7, Byrd 7). Assists — College of Idaho 18 (Waltermeyer 4, Riley 4) Lewis-Clark State 12 (Sander 3). Total fouls — College of Idaho 15, Lewis-Clark State 10. Attendance — 807.

MEN’S GAME

COLLEGE OF IDAHO (10-1, 5-0)

Radford 7-9 2-2 20, Morgan 6-9 6-6 18, Wyman 5-9 0-0 12, Rogers 4-6 1-2 9, Robinett 3-7 0-3 7, Peoples 3-7 2-3 10, Handran 1-2 2-2 4, Morris 2-4 0-0 4, Wilson 0-2 1-2 1, Germer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-56 14-20 85.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (10-2, 5-1)

Morris 8-13 0-2 16, Lustig 1-4 0-0 2, King 7-12 1-2 18, Hunt 1-1 0-0 2, Hamilton 4-12 0-0 8, Boykins 1-3 2-3 4, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Nordland 0-0 0-0 0, Skaife 0-2 0-0 0, Carpenter 3-5 0-0 9, Salguero 4-5 2-7 10. Totals 29-57 5-14 69.

Halftime — College of Idaho 49, Lewis-Clark State 37. 3-point goals — College of Idaho 9-22 (Radford 4-6, Morgan 0-3, Wyman 2-4, Robinett 1-4, Peoples 2-4, Handran 0-1), LCSC 6-17 (King 3-7, Morris 0-2, Carpenter 3-4, Boykins 0-2, Skaife 0-2). Rebounds — College of Idaho 35 (Rogers 11), LCSC 27 (Salguero 5, Boykins 5). Assists — College of Idaho 16 (Morgan 6), LCSC 8 (Morris 2, Lustig 2, Nordland 2). Total fouls — College of Idaho 14, LCSC 15. Attendance — 769.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam — C — Taylor.