Derek Gianukakis scored five of his 12 second-half point during a key 9-0 run to propel the Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team to an 89-74 win over Warner Pacific in the second game of the LC Invitational at Lewiston High School’s Booth Hall on Friday night.
LCSC, 3-0 on the season, led by as much as 20 in the first half before Warner Pacific cut the margin to 49-38 at halftime.
Warner Pacific continued its comeback in the second half and made it 64-59 near the 10-minute mark.
At that point, the Warriors went on a 9-0 run as Giamukakis hit a 3-pointer and a lay-up to spark the run. After a bucket by Warner Pacific, the Warriors used an 8-0 run to break open the game and take an 81-61 lead. Warner Pacific, 2-1 overall, then never got closer than the final margin.
Markus Monroe led the Warriors with 23 points, including 17 in the first half. Gianukakis finished with 16 points, while Tanner McIntosh added 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field.
LCSC had a 42-34 rebounding edge in the contest with Daniel Williams pacing the Warriors with eight. James Craft and McIntosh finished with seven each.
LCSC outscored Warner Pacific 50-40 in the paint and 8-0 on fastbreak opportunities. The biggest difference came from the bench where LCSC’s bench scored 43 points, while Warner Pacific’s bench had 11 points.
For the contest, LCSC was 34-of-62 from the field for 54.8 percent, while Warner Pacific was 28-of-69 for 40.6 percent.
In the first game of the tournament, Carroll College defeated Vanguard 69-63.
The tournament continues on Saturday with Carroll and Warner Pacific meeting at 2 p.m., while LCSC and Vanguard play at 6 p.m. The pairings for the tournament were preset so the two Frontier Conference schools – LCSC and Carroll – would not play each other.
