LA GRANDE, Ore. - Picking up its defensive pressure in the second half, the Lewis-clark State College men's basketball team successfully kicked off its season by defeating the College of Idaho 71-58 in the opening round of the Aramark Quinn Classic on Friday night at Eastern Oregon University.
The Warriors, with only four players returning from last year's squad, trailed 35-27 at halftime but turned on the man-to-man pressure in the second half and held College of Idaho scoreless from the field for the final 12:31 of the game. The Coyotes only made four field goals in the second half and scored just 23 points.
"It was all defense in the second half," LCSC assistant coach Tim Collins said. "They obviously made some free throws in the second half, but we were able to shut them down."
College of Idaho, which also was opening its season, went just 1-of-18 from the 3-point line for 5.6 percent accuracy, and finished the game 19-of-44 from the field for 43.2 percent.
The Warriors went 24-of-55 from the field, 43.6 percent, and were 3-of-13 at the 3-point line, 23.1 percent. However, it was a different story in the second half.
"We struggled on offense in the first half and shot only 35 percent from the field, but in the second half we shot 52 percent, and we got a lot of buckets in transition," Collins said.
Collins said Drew Arnold, a 6-foot-10 center, helped lead the charge for LCSC. He finished with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting and also had six rebounds. Curtis Allen, a 6-3 guard, led all players with 18 points, but he also was the only player in the game to take more than nine shots. He finished 7-of-15 from the field.
Tanner McIntosh, a sophomore, finished with seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds for LCS, which held a 39-31 rebounding edge, including 14 offensive boards. Nine of the 10 Warriors who played in the game scored and all played at least nine minutes in the contest.
"Any time you get a win away from your element, it's a good thing," Collins said.
The Warriors wrap up play in the pre-determined pairings by facing host Eastern Oregon on Saturday at 8 p.m., while College of Idaho meets Montana Tech at 6 p.m.
Note: Boxscore can be found at the web site
