ASHLAND, OR – There is a four-way tie atop the Cascade Conference standings after a thrilling 73-70 victory for LC State Men’s Basketball over Southern Oregon on Saturday. The win completed the weekend sweep of one of the toughest road trips in the CCC and clinched the season sweep of the Raiders.
John Lustig led the contest with 20 points and the Warriors made more than half of their shots with a 51.2% mark from the field. Defense was the difference as LC State held SOU to 32.3% from the field and just 21.7% from 3-point range.
“Proud of our guys. Hard to put into words how tough this road trip is and to get a sweep says so much about how prepared, connected and excited our guys were to play,” coach Austin Johnson said. “We tried to ration minutes the best we could. Despite giving up an eye-popping 27 offensive rebounds I thought our defense was really good and took away the things we wanted to take away. John and Dylan (Skaife) kept it going on the perimeter and Grayson (Hunt) anchored us scoring inside. Big weekend but we know we have a lot of big games ahead. Excited to stay on the journey with these guys.”
The victory has the LC State record at 17-5 overall and 11-3 in CCC play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Free throws by Dallon Morgan evened the score after an opening basket by SOU, and a triple by Dylan Skaife matched one by the Raiders to keep the score knotted early. Grayson Hunt, Brandon Suber and Lustig continued the back-and-forth.
Skaife and Lustig scored in the slow-moving half before a layup by Hunt had LC State within one, 20-19, at 6:35. Hunt grabbed an offensive board that turned into a 3-pointer by Trevor Manning and free throws by Josh Salguero and a basket by Lustig gave the Warriors a 29-27 edge at 3:00. Jamare’ Childs hit a 3 and Suber tallied an and-1 to push the lead to 35-27 and cap the 11-0 run at 1:36. A basket by Skaife in the final seconds had the Warriors in front 39-31 at the half.
A pair of fouls on made baskets allowed the Raiders to cut the margin to 40-37 in the first two minutes of the second half, but a 3-pointer by Skaife pushed the advantage back to 43-37. The lead was short-lived, as SOU created turnovers to jump back in front 46-45.
Hunt capitalized on an and-1 play before Lustig, Childs and Skaife combined for a 13-2 run to put the Warriors back in the lead and stretch the advantage to 60-50 midway through the half.
Lustig converted four straight free throws and a layup by Hunt kept the lead at seven points, but a run by Southern Oregon trimmed the advantage to 71-70 with 30 seconds left. Suber drew a foul and drained both free throws to cap the scoring in the 73-70 contest.
STAT RECAP
Lustig led the contest with 20 points. He was 6-for-8 from the field and 8-for-9 from the free throw line. Skaife scored 16 points for the second straight game with a pair of 3-pointers and Hunt added 11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 night from the field.
Both Childs and Suber scored nine points with a game-high four assists. Childs did so on a 3-for-4 night from 3-point range and Suber went 2-for-3 from the field and 5-for-7 from the foul line. Hunt and Salguero each grabbed six rebounds and Lustig added five.
LC State shot 51.2% from the field and matched SOU with a 23-for-29 (79.3%) mark from the free throw line.
