BUTTE, Mont. – Leading by just three points entering the final minute of play, the Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team survived a technical foul, two missed free throws and a three-point by Rocky Mountain College to escape with a 76-75 triumph in the semifinals of the Frontier Conference Tournament on Friday night. 

The win lifts the Warriors, 21-9 overall, into the championship game where it will face Montana State-Northern on Saturday at 6 p.m., PDT. The winner receives an automatic berth into the 32-team national tournament, but LCSC, ranked No. 21 in the NAIA, will likely receive at an-large berth to nationals even if it should lose.

The Warriors, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, defeated MSU-Northern 58-49 at home on Jan. 12, but then lost 70-65 on the road on Feb. 15. MSU-Northern and LCSC finished in a four-way tie for the regular-season conference title with 10-4 marks, but LCSC was awarded the top seed based on the tiebreakers. MSU-Northern, now 22-8 overall, received the No. 2 seed. 

LCSC is looking to win back-to-back conference tournament titles as well. The Warriors won both the conference regular season and tournament titles last year and will be looking to become the first club to win both the regular season and tournament titles in consecutive years since LCSC joined the conference in 1999. 

The Warriors, however, nearly didn’t make it to Saturday’s game after almost giving Friday’s game away. 

LCSC led 74-71 with 55 seconds left when Chase Sukut stole the ball from LCSC forward Mike Gordy, who was then whistled for a technical foul. Sukut missed the first free throw, but made the second to make it 74-72. RMC also got possession of the ball, but Nate Miller turned the ball over with 40 seconds left.

The Bears were then forced to foul and four consecutive fouls put Gordy on the line shooting 1-and-1. The senior made both free throws to give the Warriors a 76-72 lead.  After a RMC miss, Rocky then fouled junior guard Napoleon Gordon, but Gordon missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and Rocky got the rebound. Alvin Dowiels then scored a bucket for the Bears and was fouled by LCSC’s Rob Comer with 14 seconds left. Dowiels’ free throw then cut the margin to 76-75. 

Again Rocky fouled, and this time it was Comer who missed the 1-and-1 free throw attempt with 11 seconds left. Rocky got the rebound and eventually got the ball to Elijah Swan, who had buried three 3-pointers in the game. He tried another 3-point at the buzzer, but missed to end the game. 

Despite the scary finish for LCSC, the Warrior defense did the job when needed. RMC was 28-of-60 from the field for 46.7 percent, and just 6-of-24 from the 3-point line for 25 percent. RMC also had 15 turnovers, which helped the Warriors outscore Rocky 22-9 in points off turnovers.  

LCSC needed those points because Rocky had a sizable 36-25 rebounding advantage, including 13 offensive boards. RMC had 16 points from offensive rebounds, compared to two for LCSC. 

The Warriors hit 31-of-54 shots from the field for 57.4 percent, and were 6-of-15 at the 3-point line. 

Gordy led all players with 24 points as he was 9-of-14 from the field. Comer added 18 points, while Brian Duckworth added 14 along with a team-high four rebounds. 

Devin Uskoski led RMC with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Sukut and Dowiels had 14 points apiece, while Swan scored 11. 

The boxscore from the game can be found at  

http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/BoxScores/BoxScores.aspx?association=10&sg=MBB&sea=NAIMBB_2007&team=406&compID=77288&tour=92