McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Lewis & Clark knocked off the Linfield Wildcats 90-81 in Northwest Conference men's basketball action Friday night inside Ted Wilson Gymnasium.
With the stunning upset, the Pioneers (6-12, 2-7 NWC) snapped a four-game series losing streak to the Wildcats (13-5, 6-3 NWC), winning in McMinnville for the first time since 2016. Linfield entered the game in sole possession of third place in the NWC while Lewis & Clark occupied last place.
"Congratulations to Lewis & Clark for outplaying us in every phase of the game tonight," said Linfield coach
Shanan Rosenberg. "We obviously did not show up to play and played very immature."
'Cat stats
Liam O'Reilly scored 11 of his team-high 17 points in the second half. The senior post also nabbed nine rebounds to help Linfield edge L&C on the backboards, 46-40.
Max Lommen came off the bench to score 14 points and grab seven rebounds.
Dempsey Roggenbuck and
Grant Gibb each had 11 points.
Negasi Hart totaled seven points, all in the first half.
Pio production
Zeke Crawford hit 12 of 19 shots on his way to a game-high 25 points and 12 rebounds. Mak Hutson netted 16 points, and Daelon Floyd had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Pioneers forced 23 Linfield turnovers while giving the ball up just 12 times themselves. Mak Hutson and Daelon Floyd each had three steals.
L&C shot 47.2 percent from the field while Linfield hit 41.4 percent.
1st half
A see-saw first half of action saw the lead switch hands seven times before the Pioneers pulled away from a 31-all tie to open up seven-point advantage at the intermission.
Lewis & Clark hit five three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes, including two each from Ryan Cibull and Andrew Panicacci.
Zeke Crawford paced the Pios with 10 first-half points. Hart generated all seven of his points on 3-of-5 shooting to lead Linfield before the break.
L&C shot 50.0 percent from the field compared to Linfield's 41.1. The Wildcats were 3 of 7 from the free throw line while the Pioneers converted 5 of 6 from the stripe.
2nd half
Consecutive three-pointers by
Grant Gibb and
Dempsey Roggenbuck to open the second half pulled Linfield to within one point, but Lewis & Clark remained in command as play resumed. The Pioneers surged with a 14-5 run over the next five minutes to open up a 56-46 advantage.
A three-pointer by
Will Burghardt with 9:03 left cut the margin to six, 60-54, but that was as close as Linfield could come.
Gibb snipped the margin back to single digits, 65-57, with a three pointer at the 7:00 minute mark. The Pioneers pushed the margin to double digits once more, taking their largest lead of the game, 78-63, on a pair of free throws by Daelon Floyd with just over three minutes left.
Rosenberg's remarks
"While there were some bright spots, there weren't many tonight. We need to put it behind us and move forward in hurry as we head to PLU.
"This a great group of guys and competitors. I'm at a loss for why we were so unprepared and listless tonight. A lot of credit goes to Lewis & Clark for playing very well.
Next
Linfield heads to Tacoma, Wash., for a Saturday matchup against the Pacific Lutheran Lutes. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Olson Auditorium on the PLU campus.
