PORTLAND, OR – Peyton Nordland stepped up with his best offensive contest of the season to help lead (RV) LC State past Warner Pacific (Ore.) to close out 2025. The Warriors won the final contest of the calendar year 82-57 behind 17 points by the senior.
“Great road win to finish off the semester,” coach Austin Johnson said. “Our guys have really handled themselves well on the road the last month and I’m proud of them for sticking together. Nordland really set the tone offensively getting into the paint and defensively getting through screens. Grayson (Hunt) got it going inside off the bench. Our bench was big tonight alongside Grayson with (Brandon) Suber and Trevor (Manning) defensively along with a nice offensive game from Carter (Hansen). We will keep working to improve and get ready for two huge home games after Christmas.”
The victory improves the LC State to 9-3 overall and 3-1 in Cascade Conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Nordland and Jamare’ Childs had LC State out to a 5-0 lead with two quick baskets in the first 90 seconds, but WPU answered with a run of four to cut into the lead. Grayson Hunt scored back-to-back tallies before two consecutive from Brandon Suber to grow the Warrior advantage to 13-4 at 13:35.
Nordland added five points to match pace with the Knights before buckets by Hunt and Suber combined for a six-point run to row the margin to 24-13 by 7:25. Dylan Skaife answered a WPU basket with a 3-pointer and Josh Salguero added three points of his own to make it 30-15 with 5:50 left in the half. Nordland completed a three-point play and Hunt converted a pair of foul shots as the back-and-forth continued.
LC State added on in intervals of three with contributions from Skaife, Suber and Dallon Morgan in the final minutes for a 44-23 lead at the half.
Salguero and Nordland combined for a 6-3 run to start the second half and Morgan threw down a dunk to give the Warriors a 52-31 lead at 17:26. Skaife and Morgan went back-to-back from 3-point range before Hunt made it an eight-point run for a 60-33 advantage at 14:14. Carter Hansen joined in on the scoring with eight points in the span of two minutes.
Baskets by Trevor Manning and Suber were followed by another 3 by Nordland for a 30-point cushion, and Salguero kept it there with a dunk for a 77-47 lead ay 9:13.
The Knights went on a 10-0 run to cut the difference to 77-57 with 4:01 left to play. Nordland ended the LC State scoring drought with a layup at 1:36 and Mateen Usui hit a 3 in the final minute of the 82-57 victory.
STAT RECAP
Nordland led LC State with his career-high 17 points. He was 7-for-9 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3-point range. Hunt added 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting with four rebounds and Suber scored 11 points with six assists, five rebounds and three steals.
Manning led the Warriors with six rebounds to go with three assists. Skaife scored nine points on three 3-pointers.
LC State shot 55.2% as a team and 43.5% from 3-point range with 10 triples. The Warriors forced 13 turnovers for 25 points and committed only six turnovers.
