EUGENE, Ore. – Warrior Men’s Basketball battled its way to an 88-78 victory over Bushnell University on Sunday to close out the 2022 road slate. Davian Brown had another standout game with 24 points and a 10-for-10 performance from the line.
With the win, LC State improves to 6-5 overall and 3-2 in Cascade Conference play.
“I was pleased with how our guys responded tonight,” Head Coach Austin Johnson said. “We showed some toughness clawing back in and it was clear we had a better sense of urgency. John (Lustig) and Will (Abram) gave us a big boost off the bench. We have lots to work on but we can definitely keep improving as a group going forward.”
Grayson Hunt used an offensive rebound to score the first basket of the game before Oreon Courtney added a jumper to give LC an early 4-0 edge. Hunt added his second bucket of the game to make it 6-2 Warriors at 17:12. The Beacons evened the score 10-10 at 12:23.
Davian Brown put LC back in front with a triple at 11:54 and John Lustig added a tally 40 seconds later to make it a five-point Warrior run. Anthony Peoples Jr. scored before Brown made a pair of foul shots to give the Warriors a 19-14 advantage by 9:12, but Bushnell was within one, 20-19, at 8:22. Hunt pushed the margin back to 22-19 with a layup on an assist from Kai Warren on the next possession. A pair of foul shots by Brown had the LC lead to 24-19 at 7:09.
Freshman Erick Chaney took advantage of two free throws with 6:36 left in the half, but a short burst by the Beacons knotted the score 26-26 with 4:50 on the clock. Hunt put the Warriors back in front with two foul shots a minute later, and Warren kept LC in the lead 31-28 at 3:22. Bushnell utilized free throws to regain the lead before pushing the margin to 36-33 at the half.
Keegan Crosby brought LC within one to start the second half and added a 3 at 16:43 to keep the margin small at 40-38. Free throws by Brown tied the score 40-40 at 16:18, but Bushnell answered with the next five points. Back-to-back 3s by Brown and Bennion put the Warriors in front 48-47, and layup by Will Abram made it a 50-47 lead at 12:54.
Lustig made it an 11-0 run with a triple to push the advantage to 53-47 midway through the half. Abram added a layup and Lustig dropped in another 3 to keep the Warriors in the lead and fend off Bushnell attempts at a comeback.
The two teams went basket-for-basket with Courtney, Crosby and Hunt all adding to the LC total. Lustig hit another three during the scoring battle and Courtney threw down a dunk to give the Warriors a 71-66 lead with 5:40 to play.
Brown, Lustig and Bennion scored in the final minutes to close out the 88-78 victory.
Brown led LC with 24 points. He is the 13th Warrior to finish a game perfect from the free throw line (10-for-10) with at least 10 attempts, and the first since Daniel Williams went 10-for-10 in 2010.
Lustig added 13 points with three 3-pointers, Bennion scored 12 with eight rebounds, and Courtney chipped in 11 with a team-high nine boards. Hunt scored 10 points to tie his career-high.
LC State outrebounded the Beacons 37-25 including an 11-3 margin on offensive boards. The Warriors had 24 points off the bench an 18 second-chance points.
UP NEXT
The Warriors close out the 2022 schedule on Dec. 30 and 31 when they host Eastern Oregon and No. 3 College of Idaho.
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