Warriors make WSU Work; L-C's shooting lapses prove costly as Cougars pull away for 62-53 victory in interdivisional pairing
Copyright of The Lewiston Morning Tribune

By DOUG BAUER
OF THE TRIBUNE

PULLMAN -- The Lewis-Clark State College Warriors had their chances. Plenty of them.

But the Warriors failed to cash in on numerous scoring opportunities, and that proved to be their ultimate downfall in a 62-53 loss to Washington State Wednesday night at Beasley Coliseum.

While the game served as WSU's exhibition opener, it counted against L-C's record, dropping the Warriors to 4-2 heading into the four-team Cannons Building Materials tournament, which begins Friday at Warrior Gym.

"We didn't shoot very well," said L-C coach George Pfeifer, lamenting his team's 14-for-47 (29.8 percent) showing from the field. "But that had an awful lot to do with them.

"We never really got a rhythm going because of the way they defended us."

L-C came into the game hoping to topple an upper-division foe, but the Warriors got off to a sluggish start and found themselves facing an early 10-3 deficit.

L-C managed to shoot its way back into contention from the foul line, converting 8 of 11 free throws during an extended stretch to close within 20-17. The Warriors then tied the score at 20-all on a Joey Ray 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 39 seconds remaining in the first half.

Although WSU recovered to take a 26-23 lead into the break, coach Dick Bennett was less than thrilled with the Cougars' performance at that juncture.

"We didn't respect the basketball," said Bennett, whose team committed 13 turnovers in the first half. "And in spite of (L-C's) good defense, so many of those turnovers (resulted from) silly decisions ... I got on the seniors for that. I was very disappointed in our older kids.

"The younger kids are going to make mistakes, but the older kids know what we value and they just simply threw it all to the wind."

WSU opened the second half with an 8-2 run, and the Cougars maintained a slight cushion until a thunderous Jeff Varem dunk followed by a steal and layup by Josh Akognon put them ahead 48-38 with just over 9 minutes remaining.

WSU stretched its lead to as many as 13 points before back-to-back baskets by L-C's John Moore cut the Cougar advantage to 55-36.

But Moore was whistled for a technical foul shortly thereafter, and the Warriors were unable to work their way back into contention over the game's final 2 1/2 minutes.

Varem led the Cougars with game-highs in points (16) and rebounds (12), and he converted 6 of 7 shots from the floor. Fellow senior Thomas Kelati added 11 points despite a 1-for-7 night from beyond the 3-point arc, and freshman Robbie Cowgill contributed 10 points.

Danny Allen had 15 points for the Warriors, who also received 11 points from Moore and 10 from Ray.

Ray, L-C's top outside-shooting threat, was making his season debut; he sat out the team's first five games recovering from foot surgery. He practiced for the first time on Tuesday, and appeared a little off in regard to his timing, although Pfeifer refused to make excuses.

"That would be taking away from the Cougars defensively, and I wouldn't want to do that," Pfeifer said. "But I'm sure if you've only practiced one day, you're not at the top of your game, in (Ray's) defense."

Bennett, himself a former NAIA coach, liked what he saw of L-C.

"I want to congratulate Lewis-Clark State for a very inspired game," he said. L-C is "a very well-coached team, a very good team who made us look quite bad for big portions of the game.

"At this stage of the (season), you're just thankful that you have a tough game," he added. "This is far better for us than playing some all-star team or some foreign team that just quits on you. I was very impressed with their kids. In fact, I'd like to have a couple of them.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (4-2)

Wilson 1-4 0-0 2, Idoko 0-0 1-2 1, Brothers 2-9 0-0 4, Allen 3-6 6-9 15, Fraser 0-6 0-0 0, Bishop 0-0 0-0 0, Jaekel 0-1 2-2 2, Moore 4-7 3-4 11, Ray 2-9 4-4 10, Pitts 0-0 2-4 2, Tikker 2-5 2-2 6. Totals 14-47 20-27 53.

WASHINGTON STATE (0-0)

Schlatter 3-5 0-0 7, Varem 6-7 4-7 16, Cowgill 4-9 2-3 10, Kelati 3-10 4-5 11, Weaver 2-5 1-1 5, Josh Akognon 2-6 0-0 5, Green 0-0 0-0 0, Gill 1-1 0-0 2, Simmons 0-1 0-0 0, Harmeling 2-3 2-2 6. Totals 23-47 13-18 62.

Halftime score -- Washington State 26, Lewis-Clark State 23. Three-point goals -- L-C 5-19 (Wilson 0-2, Allen 3-5, Fraser 0-3, Jaekel 0-1, Ray 2-7, Tikker 0-1), WSU 3-16 (Schlatter 1-2, Kelati 1-7, Weaver 0-2, Akognon 1-5). Rebounds -- WSU 38 (Varem 12), L-C 26 (Moore 6). Assists -- L-C 8 (Wilson 2), WSU 15 (Weaver 5). Total fouls -- L-C 17, WSU 21. Fouled out -- Weaver. Technical fouls -- Moore. Att -- 2,427.