Portland, Ore. – Lewis & Clark College held off visiting Willamette University's second-half comeback to sweep the season series with the Bearcats and moved into a tie for third place in the Northwest Conference standings.
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 94, Willamette 83
(Lewis & Clark 12-7, 6-4 NWC)
(Willamette 5-13, 1-9 NWC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bearcats opened up the game with a 10-4 lead, but the Pioneers answered with an 8-0 run to erase the deficit. Sophomore
Ryan Trunkett hit a three with just over 13 minutes left in the half to put the Pios up 15-13. Lewis & Clark would extend their lead to ten twice in the first half and never let Willamette get closer than three before the break. Senior
Grant Stewart and sophomore
Khalil Glover-Dodson scored eight points each in the first 20 minutes to help the Pios take a 45-36 halftime lead.
Willamette went on an 8-2 run to start the second half and cut the Lewis & Clark lead to 47-46. They took their final lead of the night, 54-53 when Ryder Hsiung hit his second three with 15:16 left in the game.
Over the next eight minutes, the Pioneers built small leads, only to have the Bearcats cut them back down to one possession. Stewart had a 6-0 run during that time, then found sophomore
Sebastian DePrez in the paint with 6:18 left to go up 72-66. The Pioneers scored 24 of their 49 second-half points in the game's final six minutes. They took their largest lead of the night, 83-72, when senior
Brenden Patrick found junior
Jayden Simpson in the paint with 2:11 left.
The Bearcats started fouling with just over a minute left in the game. Stewart hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to nine. Glover-Dodson stole the ball from Kenny Wright Jr with 30 seconds left and found Simpson down the court for the easy layup and a foul. Simpson missed the free throw, but it was too late for Willamette.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Stewart scored 14 of his career-high 22 points in the second half. He ended the night with five rebounds and a career-high four assists.
- Glover-Dodson shot a perfect 5-5 from the field and 4-4 from the charity stripe to finish with 14 points. He also grabbed six boards and had the Pios lone block in the game.
- Trunkett pulled down a career-high ten rebounds and chipped in seven points.
- Patrick and DePrez scored 18 and 12 points, respectively.
- The Pios gave head coach Tim McCrory his 12th win of the season, a career-high for the fifth-year coach.
WHO'S NEXT
The Pioneers host league-leading Whitman on Friday night at 8 p.m. in Pamplin Gymnasium.
