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TACOMA -- With the game tied and only seconds remaining, Lewis-Clark State called for a play that was designed to get Joey Ray open. And there was no way Oregon Tech had this scheme scouted.
It had been in the Warriors' arsenal for about two hours.
Ray zipped around three screens, took a pass, attacked the hoop and was fouled with about five seconds left. He made one of the two free throws to give the L-C men's basketball team a 73-72 victory over OIT on Friday night in Pacific Lutheran's Thrivent Shootout.
The Warriors, 10-2, installed this play during their shootaround before the game.
"We had the Berlin Wall that you had to get through," L-C coach George Pfeifer said of the play. "... It was a triple-screen thing, and we'd of made it a quadruple screen, but then there'd be nobody to pass it to him."
An OIT player tried to squeeze off a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but Ray stripped him to seal the win.
After the Warriors scored the first point of the game, the Owls held the lead for the next 38 minutes. L-C tied things on Adam Trombley's two free throws with 1:16 remaining (which came on the heels of a Ray 3-pointer).
Trombley put the Warriors ahead with two more foul shots, then OIT's Todd Matthews knotted the game with a layup with 23 seconds left. That set the stage for Ray.
Pfeifer described this as a tournament-type game. LCSC, ranked 17th in NAIA Division I, and OIT, No. 5 in NAIA Division II, were hours from both of their home courts. The official attendance was 22.
"It doesn't get much purer than this; this was truly a neutral floor," Pfeifer said. "I was just really happy we came away with a win."
Trombley "was huge tonight," the coach said. The 6-foot-9 senior post racked up a career-high 24 points, and added eight rebounds. Ray and Dustin Endsley each scored 13 points while point guard Ricky Frazier bagged nine points and five assists.
L-C claims the unoffical title of this three-team tournament; it beat host Pacific Lutheran 77-63 on Thursday. PLU and OIT will play today.
OREGON TECH (7-4)
Matthews 3-8 2-4 8, Houguet 7-9 1-1 15, Nunes 4-11 2-2 11, Baker 3-10 5-6 11, Carlson 2-9 1-3 5, Hesia 4-7 1-1 11, Billings 0-0 0-0 0, Michaelis 3-4 3-3 11, Johnson 0-5 0-0 0, Page 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-63 15-20 72.
LEWIS-CLARK STATE (10-2)
Allen 0-2 0-0 0, Ray 4-10 2-4 13, Idoko 2-5 3-4 7, Endsley 5-8 1-2 13, Tikker 1-3 0-0 2, Frazier 4-7 0-0 9, Ball 0-5 0-0 0, Pecht 0-1 0-0 0, Hansen 1-1 0-0 3, Pitts 1-3 0-0 2, Trombley 9-14 6-6 24. Totals 27-59 12-16 73.
Halftime score -- OIT 36, LCSC 33. Three-point goals -- OIT 5-21 (Matthews 0-2, Nunes 1-5, Baker 0-4, Hesia 2-4, Michaelis 2-3, Johnson 0-3); LCSC 7-15 (Allen 0-1, Ray 3-8, Endsley 2-3, Frazier 1-1, Ball 0-1, Hansen 1-1). Rebounds -- OIT 38 (Nunes 9); LCSC 36 (Trombley 8). Assists -- OIT 11 (four tied with 2); LCSC 12 (Frazier 5). Total fouls -- OIT 15; LCSC 19. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none. Attendance -- 22.
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