Warriors bury Cascade with 2nd-half surge; L-C men outscore visitors 18-0 over 7-minute span, cruise to 69-47 victory

Ideally, first-year coach Tim Walker wants the motion offense to be his team's bread-and-butter scheme. It's a system that requires discipline but also allows freedom -- and all five players must be in sync.

Thus far, the Lewis-Clark State men haven't mastered that complex balancing act.

After the Warriors' motion offense went stagnant in the first half, they changed tactics and scrambled to a 69-47 triumph over Cascade on Friday night. A mellow crowd of approximately 600 gathered at the Activity Center to see LCSC improve to 3-0.

At halftime, L-C led the Portland visitors by just three. Then, during a seven-minute spell early in the second period, the Warriors rattled off an 18-0 charge.

The run featured back-to-back 3-pointers from Eric Durrett and Keith Scarbrough, as well as post-up buckets from Jamal Harris and Chris Pitts. And none of it came in the motion offense.

"The problem we're having with our motion is we're not moving," said Walker, who replaced George Pfeifer during the offseason. "We just seemed slow tonight. ... Early in the second half, we went away from it."

More importantly, the Warriors upped their defensive effort. Cascade was limited to six points in the first 10 minutes of the second half. By then, L-C led 49-30.

Near the end of the game, the Warriors switched to their four-corners offense -- which could be considered the antithesis of the motion attack.

And they ran it beautifully. On the first possession, Durrett drove the lane, drew the Thunderbird defenders and fed Harris on the baseline for a two-handed dunk. The Warriors continued to get production out of it the rest of the game.

"We call it 'four to score,' " Walker said. "If they don't defend it properly, yeah, we'll attack and score. We got a dunk, we got layups, we got easy shots out of it, we got fouled."

Harris, a 6-foot-6 junior transfer, gathered 20 points on 10-for-12 shooting. He provided the game's brightest highlight in the first half, mashing a one-handed dunk off a length-of-the-court pass from Pitts.

Durrett, another junior newcomer, also scored 20 points and grabbed five rebounds. Scarbrough added 10 points while Pitts notched eight points and a team-high nine boards.

The Thunderbirds, who were playing their season opener, got 11 points from Paul Hamilton.

L-C will take on a totally different assignment tonight -- an exhibition game at Spokane against Gonzaga at 5 p.m. The No. 7 team in Division I is opening its season against the NAIA Warriors.

"Our motto has been all year, 'attitude and effort,' " Walker said. "We're just going to go up there and play hard and not worry about what happens and try to get better with it. ... We'll get out of it what we want out of it, as long as we play hard."

NOTES -- Junior big man Jared Tikker is still nursing a hamstring injury that has kept him out all season. Walker identified next Saturday's home game with Corban as Tikker's most likely return date. ... Tonight's LCSC-Gonzaga game will be shown live regionally on KAYU (channel 5).

CASCADE (0-1)

Cotton 4-8 0-1 8, Hutton 5-9 0-0 10, Garrett 2-13 0-1 5, Voeks 3-5 3-6 10, Hamilton 5-9 1-1 11, Newell 0-2 0-0 0, Russell 0-0 0-0 0, Church 0-0 0-0 0, Britton 1-1 0-0 3, Pile 0-1 0-0 0, McLaughlin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-48 4-9 47.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (3-0)

Harris 10-12 0-1 20, Pitts 4-6 0-1 8, Durrett 5-17 9-10 20, Scarbrough 4-8 0-0 10, Bishop 0-4 1-2 1, Butler 1-4 0-0 2, Brooks 2-6 2-3 6, Orr 1-2 0-0 2, Ward 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-59 12-17 69.

Halftime score -- LCSC 27, Cascade 24. Three-point goals -- Cascade 3-12 (Garrett 1-5, Voeks 1-3, Newell 0-2, Britton 1-1, Pile 0-1); LCSC 3-15 (Durrett 1-4, Scarbrough 2-4, Bishop 0-3, Butler 0-2, Brooks 0-2). Rebounds -- Cascade 28 (Hutton 8); LCSC 36 (Pitts 9). Assists -- Cascade 12 (four with 2); LCSC 13 (Bishop 3). Total fouls -- Cascade 19; LCSC 15. Technical fouls -- none. Fouled out -- Voeks.