LEWISTON, Idaho – Nate Richardson’s drive to the basket with 1:39 left gave Rocky Mountain the lead for good and a jumper by DeAnthony Holmes with 31 seconds left proved to be the difference as the Battlin’ Bears hung on to defeat Lewis-Clark State 65-63 in a hard fought Frontier Conference men’s basketball contest at the LCSC Activity Center on Saturday afternoon.
LCSC took took a 61-60 advantage – its only lead of the second half – on a jumper by Tanner McIntosh with 2:59 left, but after both teams missed shots, Richardson put the Bears back in the lead. After another LCSC miss, Holmes made to 64-61 with his short jumper.
Drew Arnold’s putback with 19 seconds left brought the Warriors within one at 64-63, but RMC was able to get the ball in to its top free throw shooter, Chase Sukut, and the Warriors were forced to foul with 13 seconds remaining.
Sukut made the first, but missed the second and the Warriors had 12 seconds left. LCSC went to senior guard Curtis Allen, who led all scorers with 19 points. Allen drove to the basket, but drew three defenders to him, and instead of going up for the shot, passed to 7-foot center James Craft who was all alone underneath the basket. Craft, however, was expecting Allen to shoot the ball and wasn’t ready for the pass and the ball bounced off his hands to RMC’s Devin Uskoski with three seconds left and the Bears managed to run out the clock before LCSC could foul.
The win lifts Rocky Mountain to 19-8 overall and 8-4 in league play, which is good enough for third place. LCSC falls to 5-8 in league and 11-12 overall. The Warriors, who wrap up the regular season next week at home against league-leading Westminster, already know their fate for the conference playoffs as they will be the No. 6 seed and will play at the home of the No. 3 seed on March 5.
LCSC coach Tim Walker said while he’s disappointed with the loss, he’s pleased with the way the Warriors played. LCSC had one of its better games of the season as far as consistency goes. The contest was close throughout and the Warriors played well on both ends of the court. LCSC had only two turnovers in the first half and just 10 for the game.
Allen came off the bench in the game for LCSC and provided the team with an immediate spark with a thunderous dunk. The 6-3 senior guard had three dunks in the first half and finished 8-of-15 shooting. He also led the Warriors in rebounding with nine and had four steals and three assists.
Dew Arnold also came off the bench to added 13 points and six boards, while Brian Duckworth had 11 points and four assists.
James Bulluck led RMC with 16 points before fouling out, while Sukut had 13. Devin Uskoski added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Bears.
LCSC finished the game 28-of-57 for 49.1 percent, while RMC was 26-of-55 for 47.3 percent.
