Balanced attack helps Warrior men drill Southern Oregon

11-2-07

Mike Gordy led five players in double figures with 17 points to help the Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team to its third lopsided victory of the season with an 88-44 win over Southern Oregon University in the opening round of the Cannon’s Building Materials Center Tournament at the LCSC Activity Center on Friday night. 

The Warriors, ranked No. 12 in the NAIA, have won their three games by an average of nearly 42 points a game. 

LCSC had little trouble with the Raiders, who scored the first bucket of the game in their season opener but then watched LCSC use runs of 10-0 and 16-0 to race out to a 26-6 advantage and cruise from there.  LCSC led 48-19 at halftime and outscored Southern Oregon 40-25 in the second half. 

The Warriors will face Cascade College, 2-1, in Saturday’s tournament action at 7:30 p.m., while Southern Oregon will meet Carroll College, 4-1, at 5:30 p.m.  The pairings were predetermined so that the two Frontier Conference teams, Carroll and LCSC, would not face each other. 

Carroll defeated Cascade 65-63 in Friday’s other game. 

LCSC had another strong shooting night, hitting 35-of-68 shots from the field for 51.5 percent. The starting five went 25-of-41 from the field, 60.9 percent. 

The Warrior defense also played well, holding SOU to just 15-of-53 shooting from the field, 28.3 percent, and forced 23 turnovers. LCSC had 15 steals in the game, including five from Napoleon Gordon. 

Gordy led all scorers in the game and also tied for game-high rebounding honors with freshman Andrew Packwood of Lewiston as both finished with seven. Dorian Watson (photo below) added 15 points, Mikel Watson had 14, and Kasey Riley and Jon Daly (shown dunking photo) finished with 10 each. Daly and Gordon also added five rebounds. 

Jason Nunnemaker and Trenton Fraser had seven points apiece for the Raiders. 

LCSC coach Tim Walker said he was pleased with the defensive performance of the team, but says there’s still room for improvement. 

Friday’s contest was the first of three games in three days for LCSC. On Sunday, the Warriors will be in Pullman for a 4 p.m. exhibition contest against the Washington State Cougars.