The Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team used its size and strength to dominate both the paint and Walla Walla University with a 93-54 win over the Wolves at the LCSC Activity Center on Saturday night.
The Warriors, playing in their final nonconference game of the regular season, stretched their win streak to three games by defeating Walla Walla for the second time in less than a month. The Warriors rolled over WWU 119-48 on Dec. 10.
“I thought they made some adjustments from our first game and they spread the floor well, but we adjusted well to that,” LCSC coach Tim Walker said after the Warriors improved to 6-4 on the season. “All in all I think we played a pretty good game.”
The Warriors used their sizable height advantage to dominate inside. LCSC outscored the Wolves 58-14 in the paint and also converted 21 WWU turnovers in 19 points. LCSC only had seven turnovers.
Walla Walla, which is 0-12 overall, only trailed 9-8 early in the game, but LCSC went on a 10-0 run and eventually outscored the Wolves 25-5 over the next 11 minutes to open up a 34-13 lead. LCSC led 40-23 at halftime.
“I thought we were a little slow to react at the start of the game, but I thought in the second half we played very well,” Collins said. “We shot 66 percent from the field and we shot the 3-pointer better because we got the ball inside and then kicked it back out.”
LCSC dominated play in the second half, scoring 38 of its 53 points in the paint. LCSC also hit three 3-pointers and four free throws in the half, which left only one basket being scored inside the arc, but not in the paint.
“I thought we played a really good second half,” Walker said. “We did a lot of things well.”
The Warriors had five players reach double figures and another finish with nine. Forward Tanner McIntosh recorded a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Drew Arnold led the team with 20 points. Brian Duckworth added 16, while Curtis Allen and James Craft added 10 apiece. Craft also had nine rebounds in his best game as a Warrior.
Daniel Williams finished with nine points, four assists, three steals and eight boards for LCSC.
LCSC’s four inside players – McIntosh, Arnold, Craft and Andrew Packwood – were a combined 22-of-36 from the field for 61.1 percent.
For the game, the Warriors were 39-of-73 from the field for 53.4 percent and held a 49-30 rebounding advantage with 14 offensive boards.
Walla Walla, which was paced by Joshua Henderson’s 19 points, was 21-of-61 from the field, 34.4 percent. The Wolves also were 10-of-27 from the 3-point line, 37 percent.
LCSC now opens Frontier Conference play on the road this week. The Warriors travel to the University of Great Falls on Friday and then play Montana State University-Northern in Havre, Mont., on Saturday. Both games begin at 7 p.m.
