HELENA, Mont. – It was another heartbreaker for the Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team on Thursday night. The Warriors led 30-27 at halftime and 53-48 in the second half, but hit a cold spell late in the game and ended up falling to Carroll College 65-59.
“It was tied with five minutes to go in a game on the road. You can’t ask for much more than that,” said LCSC assistant coach Tim Collins. “We just didn’t get it done down the stretch.”
After shooting a decent percentage from the field in the first half, the Warriors hit a drought in the second that foiled an eight-point lead and let the Saints take control. LCSC finished with a 33.8 percent mark from the field, while Carroll shot 40 percent.
With only two games left on their conference schedule, the Warriors are now 13-13 overall and 4-8 in the conference. The win improves Carroll to 12-13 and 5-6. The Warriors will play at Rocky Mountain at 7 p.m. on Saturday, and then close out the regular season with a trip to Salt Lake City to face Westminster on Feb. 27.
The Warriors held the lead for the entire second half up until Carroll knotted the game 53-53 with 5:02 left on the clock.
“We did a good job of attacking the rim late in the game, but we just didn’t get to the foul line,” said Collins.
The Warriors had only 10 attempts at the line (making seven of them), while the Saints were 12-of-17 at the charity stripe.
Alex King led the Warriors with 13 points and 11 rebounds, but his solid effort was matched by Carroll’s Chris Medina, Andy Garland, and Chase Godecke. Medina finished with 21 points, Godecke had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Garland had 14 points.
Jared Giammona and Tanner McIntosh were the only other Warriors to reach double-figures in scoring. Gimmona helped carry the Warriors early on as he went 3-of-6 from long range and scored all 11 of his points in the first half. McIntosh finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
With center James Craft currently sidelined with a knee injury, the Warriors had to rely on other players to come up with rebounds down low. Derek Gianukakis gathered nine boards (his second highest total this season) to help LCSC tie Carroll in rebounds 36-36.
