Warriors see mixed results; Warner Pacific clips men 87-83 in first
round of Cannon tourney
Copyright of The Lewiston
Morning Tribune
MATT BANEY of the Tribune
The Lewis-Clark State men's basketball team made a
spirited rally late in the second half, capped by a frenzied push in the
final minute. But the Warriors couldn't avoid their first home loss in 22
months.
Now here's the sobering news: This might have been LCSC's most winnable
game this week.
With Warner Pacific rainbowing in 12 of 19 tries from 3-point range, the
Warriors had trouble gaining much traction. The Knights collected an 87-83
victory on Friday night at Warrior Gym during the first session of the
Cannon's Building Material Center Tournament.
LCSC lost to Washington State on Wednesday and will play Oregon Tech, the
top-ranked NAIA Division II team in the country, tonight at 6. Then on
Sunday, the Warriors will travel to Spokane to face national powerhouse
Gonzaga in an exhibition matchup.
On top of all that, Warner Pacific eased into a fabulous shooting groove
in this game. The Knights canned 60 percent of their floor shots, and the
trio of Wesley Powers, Donny Woods and Jeff Eishen combined to hit 9 of 13
attempts from deep.
"We thought a couple times we didn't get hands over shooting pockets --
we were kind of in Big Bird mode," LCSC coach George Pfeifer said. "But
there were a couple 3-point shots that were well-contested, and they made
them anyway. So hat's off to them."
The last time Pfeifer had to congratulate a victorious visiting club was
Jan. 16, 2003, when Carroll College nabbed a four-point win. In the
meantime, LCSC built a string of 29 consecutive triumphs at Lewiston.
The Warriors, 4-3, certainly did their best to keep the streak alive.
Down by 12 with 12 minutes remaining, L-C pieced together a 16-4 blitz to
tie things at 63-all.
It stayed close until Warner Pacific, 2-0, got a Joe Hoover basket when
James Idoko was called for goaltending, followed by Woods' top-of-the-key
trey. That made it 78-71.
The Warriors were down nine with just over 30 seconds to play. Although
they hustled for 10 points in the final half-minute -- Danny Allen scored
seven of those -- they never had a chance to tie or take the lead.
LCSC got 20 points from Martin Brothers and 19 from Allen. Joey Ray, who
came off the bench, recorded 14 points on 4-for-9 gunning from the arc.
The Warriors dipped behind by as much as 10 points in the first half.
Although they pulled within five at halftime -- and made the grinding
second-half comeback -- their early troubles continued haunting them.
Late in the game, "I thought there was a sense of urgency from us,"
Pfeifer said. "I didn't see that same sense of urgency in the first 10
minutes of the game when we were shooting miserably. ... We need to do that
the whole 40 minutes."
Given the difficulty of this stretch of games, what message did Pfeifer
have for his team?
"About the only thing I told them -- because I'm not into big, long
speeches after games -- is, 'Are you going to make this a bump or a
mountain?' ... Tomorrow is not going to get any easier.
"To be honest, I'm not too focused on Gonzaga," Pfeifer added. "We wanted
to win this ballgame and we want to win the ballgame tomorrow. Whatever
happens Sunday happens Sunday -- that's my mind set."
WARNER PACIFIC (2-0)
Powers 5-8 2-3 15, Woods 7-12 2-2 20, Eishen 4-6 4-4 14, Hoover 8-13 7-10
24, Jackson 3-7 0-0 7, Levine 2-3 0-0 4, Walton 0-0 0-0 0, Oury 1-1 0-0 3,
Stewart 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-50 15-19 87.
LEWIS-CLARK STATE (4-3)
Wilson 3-6 1-2 9, Idoko 2-7 1-3 5, Brothers 8-13 4-7 20, Allen 8-13 0-0
19, Fraser 2-5 0-0 6, Bishop 0-0 0-0 0, Moore 4-7 2-5 10, Ray 4-9 2-2 14,
Pitts 0-1 0-1 0, Tikker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-62 10-20 83.
Halftime score -- WP 38, LCSC 33. Three-point goals -- WP 12-19 (Powers
3-5, Woods 4-5, Eishen 2-3, Hoover 1-2, Jackson 1-3, Oury 1-1); LCSC 11-25
(Wilson 2-5, Allen 3-6, Fraser 2-5, Ray 4-9). Total fouls -- WP 17; LCSC 17.
Fouled out -- Idoko. Technical fouls -- none. Rebounds -- WP 25 (Woods 6);
LCSC 34 (Idoko 8). Assists -- WP 13 (Woods 6); LCSC 13 (five with 2).
