From the Lewiston Tribune, Friday, March 16

NW Oklahoma State ousts Warrior men

3-16-07

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Warriors thought the shot was down and the lead was theirs.

But Napoleon Gordon's 3-pointer rattled out of the cylinder with five seconds left Thursday night, and Lewis-Clark State went on to lose its opener 61-57 in the NAIA Division I men's tournament.

Northwestern Oklahoma State, 21-11, advances to the second round while the Warriors end their season at 26-7.

"I could have sworn it was halfway through the net before it bounced out," L-C coach Tim Walker said of Gordon's shot, which would have given the Warrior a one-point lead.

Northwestern Oklahoma then hit two free throws, and Robert Comer missed a 25-footer for L-C at the two-second mark.

The unseeded Rangers used depth to upset the 14th-seeded Warriors, outscoring them 26-7 in points off the bench. That helped them overcome a 32-26 halftime deficit.

"They're really deep; they play a lot of guys," Walker said. "We just had trouble scoring the ball. To some degree, that was their depth -- they kept running guys in and defending us."

Chris Pitts capped his LCSC career with a 16-point, nine-rebound performance, canning 7 of 9 shots and turning a late offensive rebound into a three-point play.

"He was a man on the offensive boards," Walker said of the senior forward. "He always seemed to come up with the opportune ones."

Mike Gordy added 13 points for the Warriors and Teran Lee had 10.

Shane Hansen tallied 15 points for the Rangers, hitting a go-ahead bucket with 2:07 left. Tramain Davis added 14 points and 10 rebounds for Northwestern Oklahoma, which became the third straight unseeded team to forge a first-round win.

The Rangers play Xavier of Louisiana in the second round tonight.

The Warriors shot 11-for-20 in the first half but sputtered the rest of the way. That was especially true of their backcourt, with Gordon winding up 1-of-11 and Lee 3-for-12.

"Our guys played hard," Walker said. "We just didn't make good decisions in the second half."

Northwestern Oklahoma was the more opportunistic team, outscoring the Warriors 11-2 in fast-break points and 13-6 off turnovers. And LCSC shot only 14-of-24 from the foul line.

The loss broke a nine-game winning streak for the Warriors, who had surprised their Frontier Conference opponents by winning the league tournament.

"We told the guys they're still the Frontier champions -- no one can take that away from them," Walker said. "A lot of teams would love to have the kind of season these guys had."

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (26-7)

Scarbrough 2-2 0-0 5, Gordy 4-9 4-9 13, Pitts 7-9 2-5 16, Gordon 1-11 2-2 5, Lee 3-12 3-4 10, Thompson 0-3 3-4 3, Tikker 1-2 0-0 2, Comer 1-4 0-0 3, Daly 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-52 14-24 57.

NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA ST. (21-11)

Davis 2-12 2-2 6, Nunez 6-10 2-4 14, Hansen 5-13 2-4 15, Thomas 0-2 0-0 0, Love 0-1 0-0 0, Burny 4-7 0-0 8, Pecka 3-5 0-0 8, Parker 0-1 0-0 0, Holmes 0-0 0-0 , Johnson 0-0 0-2 0, Surrell 0-1 0-0 0, Eichnberger 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 3-8 0-2 8. Totals 23-60 8-16 61.

Halftime -- Lewis-Clark State 32-26. 3-point goals -- Lewis-Clark State 5-15 (Scarbrough 1-1, Gordy 1-1, Gordon 1-5, Lee 1-4, Comer 1-4), Northwestern Oklahoma 7-21 (Davis 0-3, Hansen 3-8, Pecka 2-3, Parker 0-1, Brown 2-6). Fouled out -- Lee, Davis. Rebounds -- Lewis-Clark State 38 (Gordy 9, Pitts 9), Northwestern Oklahoma 41 (Nunez 10). Assists -- Lewis-Clark State 8 (three with 2), Northwestern Oklahoma 11 Love 3). Total fouls -- Lewis-Clark State 14, Northwestern Oklahoma 20.