‘Nothing left in the tank’

With one shake of the backside, the Lewis-Clark State Warriors’ fading prospects for a national championship assumed new hope.

His back to the basket, a shimmying Jake Albright drew contact with EJ Onu, a 6-foot-11 post whose defensive presence had quietly loomed over the first 25 minutes of the game.

Onu was tagged with his fourth foul, the Warriors saw their big chance and they eventually sliced what had been a 14-point deficit to three.

But that’s as close as they got. They’re heading back to Lewiston with second place.

Shooting 35 percent and allowing 27 points and 10 rebounds to guard James Jones, the Warriors lost 74-68 to Shawnee State on Tuesday in the NAIA men’s basketball tournament title game at Municipal Arena in Kansas City, Mo.

In the end, the Warriors’ rally made the loss all the more painful.

“Definitely the most emotional locker room that I’ve ever been in,” third-year coach Austin Johnson said. “But nothing’s left in the tank. Those guys gave it every single thing they had, every ounce.

“You never want to lose but after a game like this, it would have been better to get blown out, from an emotional standpoint. But obviously that’s not who we are.”

The runner-up showing is the best in the history of the sport at the college and capped its second consecutive appearance among the final four teams. Last year’s event was scotched by the coronavirus pandemic.

With the pandemic lingering, a limited crowd watched the fourth-ranked Warriors finish a virus-disrupted season at 22-2 — a school record for winning percentage — and the sixth-ranked Bears of Portsmouth, Ohio, wind up 31-2 with their first national title.

Onu, who had entered the tournament with 148 blocks, officially was credited with only two in this game, but his long arms repeatedly affected LCSC shots as Shawnee State went out to a 40-30 lead by halftime.

When he had to go to the bench with his fourth foul with 15 minutes left, the Warriors began looking for opportunities inside. Senior forward Trystan Bradley juked right and pivoted left for a layin, and Albright reversed the sequence for another bunny to cut the deficit to 50-46 with 11:25 remaining.

Onu finished with six points and 2-for-9 shooting.

“He definitely impacted the game, and I think in the second half we tried to go after him, and he got some fouls,” Johnson said. “I wish we would have been going to that earlier. Onu and James Jones are special players, and I thought we did a great job on Onu.”

But as the second half wore on, the Warriors began looking fatigued, putting up two air balls. A three-point play by Amier Gilmore made it 65-58 with 4:18 on the clock.

“We’re not a super-deep team, and you’re playing four games in five days to win a national title,” Johnson said. “We were tired. We had tired legs. That kind of exhibited itself a little bit in our shooting. With how hard we work defensively, trying to limit opponents’ opportunities, there’s a wear and tear there.”

Lewis-Clark State cut its deficit to 65-62 on senior guard Khalil Stevenson’s weaving drive for a layin with 1:39 remaining. Onu — back on the court briefly before fouling out — missed a wild attempt down low, but Gilmore snagged the ball and hit a putback to make it a five-point game.

Bradley, a former Lewiston High School standout, converted 1 of 2 free throws with a minute left, and senior guard Damek Mitchell took a charge from Gilmore 25 seconds later. But Miles Thomas appeared to deflect a Stevenson pass to the corner, and the ball went out of bounds off LCSC.

From there, Jones went 5-for-6 at the foul line to sew things up.

Mitchell willed his way to 21 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors, Stevenson added 19 points and Bradley contributed 11.

But the Warriors lacked the outside shooting touch they’d shown in a semifinal rout the previous night, going 10-for-32 from 3-point range and 24-for-69 overall. Bradley was 2-of-8 from distance, senior forward Travis Yenor was 0-of-5 and and senior guard Hodges Bailey was held to five attempts overall.

Also key was the Bears’ 52-33 rebounding advantage, which included 12 offensive boards.

“At the end of the day, we’re not cutting down the nets and Shawnee State is,” Johnson said. “But it literally came down to two or three possessions, and that tells you where our guys’ hearts were at, their minds were at. They were ready and confident to be a national champion. We just didn’t have our best stuff tonight.”

FG FT Reb

LCSC Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Mitchell 38:00 5-15 7-8 2-8 5 0 21

Stevenson 32:00 8-16 0-2 0-3 0 3 19

Bradley 33:00 4-14 1-2 1-5 2 0 11

Bailey 33:00 2-5 0-0 2-4 0 4 5

Yenor 27:00 0-6 2-2 0-2 1 0 2

Albright 23:00 4-11 0-1 2-7 2 4 8

Fromm 15:00 1-2 0-0 0-2 1 1 2

Totals 200:00 24-69 10-15 9-33 11 14 68

Percentages: FG .348, FT .667.

3-Point Goals: 10-32, .313 (Mitchell 4-10, Stevenson 3-5, Bradley 2-8, Bailey 1-3, Albright 0-1, Yenor 0-5).

Team Rebounds: 2. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 1 (Bradley).

Turnovers: 5 (Bradley 2, Mitchell, Bailey, Albright).

Steals: 8 (Stevenson 2, Bailey 2, Yenor 2, Bradley, Albright).

FG FT Reb

SSU Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Jones 37:00 8-20 7-9 2-10 3 2 27

Gilmore 30:00 5-7 3-3 3-6 3 3 14

Onu 24:00 2-9 1-2 2-6 0 5 6

Abergut 15:00 2-5 0-0 0-3 0 1 6

Wells 23:00 2-2 0-2 0-3 1 1 4

Thomas 28:00 3-10 2-2 3-8 0 4 10

Carlisle 26:00 2-4 0-0 1-8 1 1 5

Mitchell 12:00 1-3 0-0 1-5 0 2 2

Johnson 6:00 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0

Totals 200:00 25-60 13-18 12-52 8 20 74

Percentages: FG .417, FT .722.

3-Point Goals: 11-28, .393 (Jones 4-9, Abergut 2-4, Thomas 2-7, Carlisle 1-1, Gilmore 1-2, Onu 1-5).

Team Rebounds: 2. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 5 (Onu 2, Carlisle 2, Mitchell).

Turnovers: 17 (Gilmore 6, Onu 3, Carlisle 3, Thomas 2, Jones, Mitchell, Johnson).

Steals: 4 (Jones, Gilmore, Onu, Wells).

Lewis-Clark State 30 38 — 68

Shawnee State 40 34 — 74

A: N/A.

Grummert reported from Lewiston. He may be contacted at daleg@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2290.