Turning up the defensive pressure in the final 10 minutes, EvergreenState shut down Lewis-ClarkState to claim a 71-62 win in the opening round of the Cannon’s Building Materials Center Tournament at the LCSC Activity Center on Friday night.
In the opening game of the tournament, Northwestern Oklahoma State hit 16 3-point shots to roll past Great Falls 94-69.
The tournament continues on Saturday with a pre-determined scheduled. Great Falls, 3-7 overall, will take on EvergreenState, 2-1, at 5:30 p.m., followed by Northwestern Oklahoma State, 4-4, against Lewis-ClarkState, 3-2, at 7:30 p.m.
Evergreen State, a member of the NAIA Division II Cascade Conference, beat LCSC for the second straight season by using a combination of its quickness and defense.
The Geoducks led for most of the first half, but LCSC rallied and took its first lead of the game at 21-20. The contest then went back-and-forth before EvergreenState nabbed a 31-30 halftime advantage.
The second half was more of the same as the two teams exchanged leads. LCSC shot 56 percent in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, which enabled it to take a 49-47 lead at the 10:04 mark. The Warriors, however, hit only 4-of-17 shots (23.5 percent) down the stretch and one was a 3-pointer by Brian Duckworth as time expired. That cold shooting, along with a couple of turnovers and a few missed free throws, put LCSC in a hole it couldn’t get out of.
The Warriors finished the game just 23-of-59 from the field for 39 percent. Included in that statistic was LCSC’s 1-of-13 performance from the 3-point line, which is 7.7 percent accuracy. It would have been zero percent if Duckworth hadn’t made the shot at the buzzer.
That dismal shooting also carried over to the foul line for LCSC where it was only 15-of-28 for 53.6 percent. EvergreenState, which didn’t shoot all that well either from the field, was 14-of-20 at the foul line. The Geoducks were 26-of-58 from the field, 44.8 percent, and 5-of-16 from the arc, 31.3 percent.
The Geoducks tried to push the ball, but had problems with LCSC’s defense and committed 23 turnovers, compared to 16 for LCSC.
Nick Moore, a 6-foot-4 forward, led all scored with 27 points for the Geoducks. He made 11-of-16 shots from the field and also had nine rebounds, five assists and one steal. The Geoducks needed a big night from Moore because the team’s two leading scorers had their problems. Guard Nathan Menefee finished with 12 points, including 10 in the second half, but was just 4-of-17 from the field. Steve Trotter was saddled in foul trouble all night and only had two points in eight minutes.
John Levi added 12 points for EvergreenState, while Julio Feliciano had a game-high 10 rebounds and helped the Geoducks to a 46-34 edge on the boards.
Duckworth led the Warriors with 18 points and six rebounds. He also collected two steals. Drew Allen added 13 points, while Curtis Allen had three steals and five rebounds, but only six points.
LCSC played the game without starting guard JR Gordon, who is having problems with his back. Gordon may also sit out Saturday night’s game.
LCSC’s bench did outscore EvergreenState’s bench 27-9 and also scored 16 points off of turnovers.
