First-half run helps LCSC men to 84-53 triumph 

12-29-06 

Scoring 19 straight points during a span of more than six minutes of the first half helped propel the Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team to an 84-53 nonconference victory over Bethany University at the LCSC Activity Center on Friday night. 

The Warriors, who have won seven of their last eight games, improve to 10-4 on the season, while Bethany, an NAIA Division II school from Santa Cruz, Calif., falls to 2-9 overall. 

Leading 16-14 with 12:57 left in the first half, LCSC proceeded to go on a 19-0 run to take a 35-14 lead with 6:34 remaining. Teran Lee had five points during the run, while Chris Pitts and Keith Scarbrough hit back-to-back 3-pointers. 

Bethany managed to cut the margin to 46-30 at halftime and scored the first bucket of the second half, but couldn’t get closer than 14 the rest of the way.


(John Daly dunking off an in-bounds pass)

Mike Gordy, a 6-foot-7 post, led the Warriors with 20 points, including 14 in the first half when he was 7-of-9 from the field. Lee added 17 on 6-of-8 shooting, while Scarbrough had 14 and Pitts 11. In all, those four Warriors were a combined 24-of-36 from the field for 66.7 percent. 

The Warriors hit 20-of-32 shots from the field in the first half and finished 33-of-57 for 57.9 percent. 

Scarbrough added five assists and two steals, while Gordy and Daly had five rebounds apiece for LCSC, while four other Warriors had four. In all, LCSC held a 37-28 rebounding edge and forced 22 turnovers. 

Bethany, which shot 38 percent from the field on 19-of-50 shooting, was led by pot John Bell’s 18 points and 13 rebounds. Bell also blocked two shots. Earnest Williams added 15 points, while Erick Nelson had 10. 

The two teams play again Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Activity Center in what will be LCSC’s final nonconference game. The Warriors open Frontier Conference play on Jan. 6 at home against Westminster of Salt Lake City.