Talk about your slow starts.
The Lewis-Clark State men’s basketball team has suffered through numerous slow beginnings since the turn of the calendar year. However, none of those compared to the one the Warriors suffered through Friday.
LCSC had its lowest first-half output of the season, shooting a miserable 15.4 percent from the field and never recovered in an 82-48 Cascade Conference loss to 10th-ranked College of Idaho at the P1FCU Activity Center.
“Great performance by C of I tonight,” coach Austin Johnson said. “They showed why they’re in the running for a championship.”
Five Yotes (21-4, 15-2) scored in double figures. Johnny Radford led the way with 18 points. Jake O’Neil added 12 points and 16 rebounds. Drew Wyman, Tyler Robinett and Ricardo Time each finished with 11 points.
Freshman guard Silas Bennion paced the Warriors (15-9, 9-8), losers of four in a row and seven of their past eight, with 10 points.
LCSC was just 14-for-58 (24.1 percent) from the field in its worst shooting performance of the season. It was worse in the first half, as the Warriors were just 4-for-26, including missing all 10 of their 3-point tries. For the game, LCSC was 6-for-21 (28.6 percent).
College of Idaho held distinct advantages in rebounding (50-43), assists (15-9), points in the paint (36-14), bench points (39-21) and points off turnovers (21-4) as the Yotes forced the Warriors into 19 miscues overall.
LCSC hung tough through the first 10:36 of the game, as it trailed just 18-12. However, College of Idaho finished the half on a 23-2 spurt. The Warriors missed their final 13 shots, only getting a pair of free throws from junior Nathan Fromm at the 4:39 mark. LCSC committed five of its turnovers in that stretch, including three in the final 1:35 of the half.
The Yotes kept increasing their advantage, and even went up by a whopping 40 points with 8:02 left in the contest.
“We’ll need to quickly move on from this one and prepare for a very talented EOU team tomorrow,” Johnson said.
The Warriors next face Eastern Oregon at 5 p.m. today.
COLLEGE OF IDAHO (21-4, 15-2)
Wyman 4-9 0-0 11, Robinett 4-7 1-2 11, Time 3-9 4-4 11, Miles-Williams 4-7 0-0 8, Handran 1-2 0-0 2, Radford 6-10 4-5 18, O’Neil 5-11 0-0 12, Wilson 2-2 0-2 4, Elzie 1-7 1-1 3, Rogers 1-2 0-0 2, Burman 0-1 0-0 0, Cooper 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 31-70 10-14 82.
LEWIS-CLARK STATE (15-9, 8-8)
Bennion 2-7 4-4 10, Fromm 2-6 2-2 6, Stevenson 2-7 0-0 5, Courtney 1-6 1-4 23, Sommerfield 1-5 0-0 3, Newsom 2-3 4-4 8, Spawell 2-5 0-0 6, Meske 1-3 1-1 3, Stockton 1-2 0-1 2, Ellison 0-2 2-2 2, Spencer 0-4 0-0 0, Hoard 0-6 0-0 0, Abram 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 14-58 14-20 48.
Halftime — College of Idaho, 82-48. 3-point goals — College of Idaho 10-27 (Wyman 3-7, Radford 2-2, O’Neil 2-3, Robinett 2-4, Time 1-5, Miles-Williams 0-1, Burman 0-1, Elzie 0-2, Cooper 0-2), Lewis-Clark State 6-21 (Sapwell 2-3, Bennion 2-4, Sommerfield 1-3, Stevenson 1-5, Fromm 0-1, Hoard 0-2, Spencer 0-3). Rebounds — College of Idaho 50 (O’Neil 16), Lewis-Clark State 43 (Courtney 7). Assists — College of Idaho 15 (Handran 5), Lewis-Clark State 9 (Stevenson 2). Total fouls — College of Idaho 17, Lewis-Clark State 9. A — 783.
