DILLON, Mont. – Eighteen turnovers caused too much damage for the Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team to overcome on Saturday night. The University of Montana went on a 17-8 scoring run in the final six minutes and took down the Warriors 75-63.
LCSC shot a decent 45.3 percent from the field and outrebounded the Bulldogs 39-35, but gave away too many possessions down the stretch to keep up with Montana Western which is now 11-0 at home this season and is in sole possession of first place in the Frontier Conference standings.
Lewis-Clark State, which has lost its last four games on the road including a one-point heartbreaker to Montana Tech on Friday, is now 4-5 in league play and 14-8 overall. Western, 6-3 and 18-6, entered the game tied for first but benefited from Montana Tech’s upset win over 16th-ranked Westminster.
With the exception of the last six minutes, the Warriors hung with Montana Western, which shot 44.8 percent, for the majority of the game. They led 19-18 midway through the first half, trailed by only five at halftime, and tied the game at 49 with 11 minutes left in the second.
A seven-point run, including a 3-pointer by the game’s leading scorer Cody Thueringer, broke up the tie, but LCSC narrowed the lead to three with 6:43 on the clock. However this would be as close as the score would get as a Warrior turnover and another three by Thueringer put Montana Western in the driver’s seat for good.
Thueringer, a senior guard, finished with 21 points including 14 in the second half and was 5-of-9 from 3-point territory.
LCSC center Donte Roberts led the Warriors with 15 points and 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the year. Donnie Lao added 13 points and six rebounds, and Shane Miller had 11 points.
David Johnson, who scored 22 points in LCSC’s 82-72 win at home against Montana Western in the conference opener, was held to just eight points though he did have six rebounds and two steals.
The Warriors outscored Western 34-24 in the paint and 14-8 in second chance points, but these stats were negated by the fact that the Bulldogs had 10 fewer turnovers.
Besides Thueringer, Montana Western’s offense was also pushed by Brandon Brown who had 13 points and four assists, and by Kyle Erickson and Tyler Hurley who had 10 points apiece. Erickson also had six rebounds and a game-high five assists.
Though they went 0-for-2 on the road trip, the Warriors will have a good opportunity to turn things around as they play their next three games at home—where they have gone 8-2 this season. Another point in the Warriors’ favor is that, because of the stiff competition in the league this season, they stand only two games out of first place.
The Warriors will host Carroll College on Thursday and Rocky Mountain College on Saturday. Both games will start at 8 p.m.
