LEWISTON, Idaho – A handful of thunderous first-half dunks highlighted the Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team’s 103-65 win over Concordia University of Alberta on Tuesday night. One of the dunks came from the hands of LCSC junior PJ Bolte who led the game with 25 points—the highest point total by any Warrior so far this season. Bolte also had a team-high seven rebounds and two blocks.
Now 9-2, the Warriors are off to the best start the program has had since the 2003-04 season. The Thunder, a team out of Edmonton, Alberta, drop to 4-7 with the loss.
Darious Walker also was a part of the slamming festivities as he added a powerful two-handed jam late in the first half. Walker and Donte Archie were second on the team in scoring with 13 points apiece.
As far as style points go, Darin Stewart’s high-flying one-handed dunk had to rank near the top. Stewart and Chris Hepperly finished with 11 points each, while Kale Schmidt was the sixth Warrior to score in double-digits as he had 10.
With 11 steals on the night, a lot of the Warriors dunks came on fast break opportunities. LCSC forced Concordia into 19 turnovers, which resulted in 18 Warrior points.
Other scoring opportunities came from LCSC’s superb passing throughout the game. The Warriors finished with 23 assists, led by four assists each from Spencer Drury, Joey Wayman, and Archie.
The Warriors stormed to a 20 point lead within the first 10 minutes of the game and led 53-23 at halftime. The scoring in the second half was much more even, but LCSC’s lead never came close to being in jeopardy.
Concordia was led by Milos Prijovic and Dallas Wright who had 17 and 13 points, respectively. Aaron Kruse led the team with eight rebounds.
The Thunder shot decently from the field, 42.9 percent, and even held their own in rebounding, trailing only 37-30 in boards, but the Canadian team had no answer for LCSC’s offensive attack.
Thanks to a number of shots from point-blank range and an 11-of-25 night from 3-point territory the Warriors ended up with a 56.5 percent shooting clip overall.
The two teams will square off again on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Wednesday is billed as a Toys for Tots Night at LCSC and all fans who bring an unused and unwrapped gift will receive $1 admission to the game.
