LCSC BASKETBALL; LCSC men stunned by Orediggers

Copyright of the Lewiston Morning Tribune

BUTTE, Mont. -- Lewis-Clark State hit a late-season road bump Friday night, losing to a team that had won only one previous Frontier Conference men's basketball game.

Montana Tech upset the 24th-ranked Warriors 83-76.

With Davin Blixt scoring 18 points in the first half, the Orediggers led 19-10 at one point and continued to find their way to the basket as the Warriors gradually came back.

"We didn't really guard -- we just kept scoring," LCSC coach George Pfeifer said.

Blixt wound up with 33 points for Montana Tech (7-22, 2-11).

The Warriors (21-8, 9-4) will probably wind up with the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament at Butte next week.

Lewis-Clark State led briefly in the second half, but missed an open 3-pointer while trailing 76-74.

"The bottom line in the second half was that we didn't defensive rebound," Pfeifer said. "We gave them second and third shots. I'll bet that happened seven times in the last 12 or 13 possessions."

Skyler Wilson of LCSC was too battered to make an appearance, and three Warriors fouled out.

It was only the second time since Nov. 12 that the Warriors have allowed 70 or more points. Heading into this contest, they were allowing an average of 59.1 points per game -- the fourth-best mark in the NAIA.

Statistics were unavailable because of technical problems at Butte.