Late run helps Warrior men stay undefeated in league play

1-19-08

BUTTE, Mont. - Jonathan Daly's steal and breakaway dunk put an exclamation point on a late 8-0 run to help the Lewis-Clark State College men's basketball team remain undefeated in Frontier Conference play with an 61-51 win over Montana Tech in a defensive struggle on Saturday night. 

The Warriors won their eighth straight to improve to 14-5 overall an 5-0 in league by making key plays down the stretch. 

LCSC trailed 49-48 when Mike Gordy scored an inside bucket and drew a foul His three-point play put the Warriors ahead for good at 51-49. 

After a Montana Tech miss, Rob Comer, who made seven 3-point shots Friday in a win over Montana Western, buried a 3-pointer, and with 1:36 left, Daly picked up a steal and scored on a breakaway dunk to give the Warriors a 56-49 advantage. Although the Orediggers cut the margin to five, LCSC guard Brian Duckworth went 6-for-6 at the foul line in the final 35 seconds to preserve the win. 

Both teams struggled on offense for most of the night. LCSC forced 28 turnovers and held Montana Tech to just 42.3 percent shooting from the field (22-of-52).  However, the Warriors committed 20 turnovers themselves and shot 41.2 percent (21-of-51), including 5-of-19 at the 3-point line. 

LCSC also was outrebounded 37-26. 

The Warriors did a nice job at the foul line, hitting 14-of-16 attempts, while Montana Tech, which falls to 1-4 in conference play and 5-14 overall, was just 1-of-3 at the line. 

Gordy, who scored a season-low seven points on Friday, had a game-high 22 points and six rebounds. Duckworth added 13 points, while Comer added 11. No other Warrior had more than four points. 

Dusan Veselinovic led Montana Tech with 12 points, while Jake Williams had a game-high 12 rebounds. 

LCSC will be back in action at home at the LCSC Activity Center when the Warriors play host to Rocky Mountain on Thursday and Carroll on Saturday. Both games will begin at 8 p.m.