Lewis-Clark State Warriors clip Eagles’ wings in season opener

The Lewis-Clark State men’s basketball team had several questions going into Wednesday’s season opener against the Northwest Indian College Eagles at the P1FCU Activity Center. Who would be the starting five? How would the eight newcomers look? Some questions still remain. But the Warriors’ 104-64 win over the Eagles provided something almost as good as answers: confidence.

Here’s how Wednesday’s game shook out:

Starting five

More than half the Warriors roster played their first regular-season game in the red, white and blue on Wednesday. And two of them were on the starting five.

Freshman guard MaCarhy Morris and senior forward Jaedon Bradley joined senior guard Davian Brown, sophomore guard John Lustig and sophomore forward Grayson Hunt as the starters. The five players combined for 40 points on 15-of-32 shot attempts. According to coach Austin Johnson, this combination is the expected starting group going forward, barring any injuries or unexpected circumstances.

“Guys have been banged up,” Johnson said. “So even though they started, we didn’t start that group (in the Nov. 3 exhibition game) against Gonzaga because John has been banged up. The plan is to go with that group, but also I have confidence that if other guys got to come in and roll, we can have that. But I want to try to get that group as many minutes together as we can — and we’re off to a great start.”

Spark plug

Northwest Indian College had two leads during the game. The first was the opening score of the contest — a 3-pointer, and the second was a 23-22 advantage with 9:43 left in the first half.

Another newcomer to the team, junior guard Gorden Boykins, checked in 16 seconds later and served as the engine that helped start LCSC’s runaway victory.

The Long Beach, Calif., native helped facilitate a 22-5 run over the six minutes before he was subbed out. He had three points, two assists, three rebounds and a steal during that run and finished the game with a 7-4-4 split.

“I feel like we came out a little flat but we picked it up in the middle of the first half,” Boykins said. “We really just needed to come out focused. We came out and played, really, to their level and not our level. We should’ve came out and played L-C ball. But we came out with the win.”

Another newcomer, junior forward Lorenzo Marsh, helped shoulder much of the offensive load during the first half. Marsh had 11 of his team-high 17 points during the first 20 minutes and finished 6-of-10 from the field. Five were 3-pointers.

Deep rotation

Every player available to the Warriors saw the court on Wednesday. LCSC rotated in 13 players over the course of the game and all but one of them saw double-digit minutes. And most players had their moments. Sophomore guard Erick Chaney, who saw the least amount of time, finished with five points, Senior guard Sam Stockton had impressive late-game buckets and junior guard Javon Jones scored 11 points, crossing the double-digit threshold late in the game.

All three post players — Hunt, freshman Alton Hamilton and sophomore Anthony Peoples Jr. — had at least seven points and five rebounds.

It’s unlikely the Warriors will have 13 players hit the court every game, but the positionless nature of the majority of the roster lends an advantage to LCSC. It can go with an eight, 10, or 13-man rotation any given night and players can be ready to step in to different roles

“We’re really deep,” Marsh said. “So I feel like anybody could go get a bucket. The bench guys are supposed to come in the game and give (the starters) a boost. So when they do catch their breath and come back in the game, we’ll have a good score.”

Early challenge

The Warriors will take on the NAIA’s No. 3 Arizona Christian Firestorm in the Clearwater River Casino & Lodge Classic at 5 p.m. Saturday. Arizona Christian will be one of two nonconference top-10 games LCSC will play before Cascade Conference action begins Nov. 30.

The Firestorm will be a good early test for the Warriors to see how they match up among the top-tier programs in the NAIA — programs that include defending national champions and Conference rivals College of Idaho.

“There’s a confidence about ourselves,” Johnson said. “I think we would like to think we have a chance to be pretty solid this year. ... I’m very excited to see how (Saturday’s) game unfolds.”

NORTHWEST INDIAN COLLEGE (2-1)

Marqueda-Lamebull 1-4 0-0 2, Rodriguez 3-12 4-7 12, Sheppard 1-1 0-0 2, Lane 10-20 3-5 24, Snow 2-4 0-1 4, Hoiby 0-4 1-2 1, Flores 0-1 0-0 0, Begay 2-5 0-0 5, Mora 0-0 0-0 0, Pate 3-8, 0-0 8, Johnson 1-3 0-0 3, Coffee 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 24-63 8-15 64.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (1-0)

Morris 1-2 0-0 3, Lustig 3-8 2-2 9, Brown 2-4 2-2 7, Hunt 6-9 0-0 12, Bradley 3-9 0-0 9, Raynor 1-4 0-0 3, Peoples Jr. 3-8 2-3 8, Boykins 3-5 1-1 7, Stockton 2-3 2-3 6, Chaney 2-3 0-0 5, Marsh 6-10 0-0 17, Jones 4-8 1-2 11, Hamilton 2-3 3-5 7. Totals 38-76 13-18 104.

NORTHWEST INDIAN 34 30— 64

LEWIS-CLARK STATE 59 45—104

Halftime — Lewis-Clark State 59-34. 3-point goals — NWIC 8-25 (Rodriguez 2-7, Pate 2-5, Begay 1-4, Lane 1-2, Johnson 1-2, Coffee 1-1, Hoiby 0-3, Marqueda-Lamebull 0-1); LCSC 15-32 (Marsh 5-9, Bradley 3-7, Jones 2-4, Lustig 1-3, Brown 1-3, Raynor 1-3, Chaney 1-2, Morris 1-1). Rebounds — NWIC 31 (Pate 5); LCSC 54 (Peoples Jr. 10). Assists — NWIC 10 (Begay 2); LCSC 20 (Boykins 4). Total fouls — NWIC 18; LCSC 17. Attendance — 324.

Kowatsch can be contacted at 208-848-2268, tkowatsch@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @Teren_Kowatsch.