If Friday’s season opener is any indication, Lewis-Clark State basketball fans will have a lot to cheer about watching the Warriors during the 2012-13 season.

LCSC put forth a dominant effort in all phases of the game to tip off its year, beating Alberta-Augustana 98-33 at the Activity Center.

“It was good to get out here and get some of those first-game jitters out,” Lewis-Clark State coach Brandon Rinta said. “It took us a little bit to get settled, but I liked the effort and energy our guys brought for the whole game.”

Each of the 13 players that suited up for Lewis-Clark State got playing time, and everyone contributed to the rout.

The Warriors were everywhere defensively, holding the visiting Vikings to just 13 field goals in the game and forcing 29 turnovers that resulted in 40 points on the other end.

“Our depth allows us to expend a tremendous amount of energy on the defensive end,” Rinta said.

On offense, LCSC shot 55 percent from the field in the game, and took advantage of its speed and athleticism in scoring 26 points on the fast break.

Senior P.J. Bolte led the scoring with 17 points in as many minutes, shooting 8-for-11 from the field. Senior Nick Fromm added 13 points, as did redshirt freshman and Clarkston native Tommy Sperry.

Sperry put an exclamation point on the victory with a dunk in the waning moments, and scored eight of his 13 in the second half.

Rinta and the Warrior coaching staff were perhaps most proud of the team’s 24-9 assist-to-turnover ratio.

“It showed a lot of mental toughness on the part of our guys to continue setting up their teammates that way,” he said.

Shayn Bruney scored 11 points for the Vikings, the only player to break double figures for Alberta-Augustana.

Even with the lopsided score, Rinta is still looking for improvement when these two teams square off again on Saturday night.

“We could do a little better job screening offensively and I’d like our bigs to be a little bit better at the free throw line, but besides that we were pretty happy,” he said.

Notes: Petar Joksimovic was the only Warrior to play less than 10 minutes on Friday night, but the Serbian junior college transfer had a pretty good excuse. Joksimovic got food poisoning last weekend and barely ate all week. He still managed six points on a pair of 3-pointers in the first half…Freshman post Forrest Baker broke his hand in practice last Tuesday and will be sidelined for seven weeks. Rinta said Baker will miss nine of the team’s 30 games, and will be eligible to return in early December.