BUTTE, Mont. – The Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team mixed a 60.3 percent shooting clip with solid defense and the result was a lopsided road win over Montana Tech on Saturday night. The No. 5 Warriors topped the Orediggers 93-75 and remain in the hunt for the Frontier Conference crown.
“We did a great job of sharing the basketball and working it around for high percentage shots,” said LCSC head coach Brandon Rinta. “Our bigs did a great job tonight, and overall it was a great team effort.”
Junior guard Jacob Champoux, who leads the nation in 3-point shooting percentage (62.3), was 3-for-5 from the outside and led the team with 24 points. And on the inside, post players P.J. Bolte and Nick Fromm added 21 and 15 points, respectively.
“P.J. and Nick were both really good inside,” said Rinta. “Nick didn’t score as much as Jacob or P.J., but he was really efficient tonight and hit some key shots.”
The Warriors were also efficient on the defensive end where they held Tech, a team that ranks No. 10 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage, to just eight makes from the outside and an overall shooting mark of 38.7 percent.
“For the most part we got back to defending the way we’re capable of. It thought it was a good defensive effort by the whole team.”
Bryan Bock and Adam Greger led the Orediggers with 17 points apiece. Former Warrior Daniel Simon added 16 points.
Bolte had 12 rebounds to help the team finish with a 38-33 edge in boards. The team also enjoyed a 21-9 advantage in assists thanks, in great part, to the eight assists of Donte Archie who played well despite being under the weather.
“Donte was pretty sick tonight, but he gutted through it and gave us a boost.”
The game marks the ninth time this season that LCSC, which led by as many as 27 during the second half, has scored 90 points or more.
The Warriors are now 23-3 overall and 8-3 in the Frontier Conference. They stand second in the league standings with four games left on the regular season slate.
MSU-Northern, which defeated Carroll 68-61 on Saturday, is in first at 9-3. Westminster, which topped LCSC last week in Salt Lake City, is in third at 7-4 after falling to Montana Western 76-54 on Saturday.
Next week Lewis-Clark State will host two league games with Dickinson State visiting on Thursday and Rocky Mountain on Saturday.
“Dickinson on Thursday will be interesting,” said Rinta. “We’ve never player them, never seen them live, and they’ve had some big wins in conference this year. We’ve got a lot to learn over the next few days.”
