LEWISTON, Idaho -- The Evergreen State College provided a solid battle against Lewis-Clark State College in Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball action on Saturday, Jan. 17, but the Warriors downed the Geoducks 76-62. Lewis-Clark State gained a 43-27 rebounding edge, including 16 offensive rebounds which led to 15 second-chance points.

LC State, which received votes in the most recent NAIA Men's Basketball Top 25 Poll, improved to 14-4 overall, 8-2 in the CCC. Evergreen fell to 3-9 on the season, 3-7 in the CCC.

The teams finished with similar shooting percentages from the field. Evergreen shot 45.8% (22 of 48) on field goals, including 6 of 17 on 3-pointers. Lewis-Clark State was 29 of 64 on field goals (45.3%), while making 9 of 26 from 3-point range (34.6%). The Geoducks finished 12 of 17 on free throws (70.6%) and the Warriors connected on 9 of 15 free throws (60.0%).

Tony Frohlich-Fair (Sr., W) of Evergreen led all scorers with 20 points. He leads the CCC in scoring with 23.9 points per game for the season. He has earned at least 20 points eight times. At LC State, he also led the Geoducks with six rebounds.

Bradley Graham (Sr., G) added 18 points for the Geoducks and reached the 1,000-point mark in his collegiate career, including two years at Highline College. On Saturday, he was 7 for 10 from the field. Graham and Frohlich-Fair each hit two 3-pointers. Zach Jefferson (Sr., G) scored nine points against the Warriors. Kohrey Bridges (Sr. F) grabbed five rebounds.

Brandon Suber topped the LC State scoring chart with 18 points, as she connected on 8 of 11 field goals. Suber also supplied six rebounds and four assists. Dylan Skaife scored 17 points and hauled down five boards. John Lustig added a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Josh Salguero provided eight points and nine rebounds.

The Warriors held a 17-4 lead after Lustig sank a jump shot with 10:37 remaining in the first half. A bit later, LC State was in front 24-9 on a jumper by Suber with 7:46 to play. Evergreen scored the next four points on two free throws by Frohlich-Fair and a layup by Jayson Mathews (Jr., G) to move within 24-13, but the Warriors regained a 15-point lead at 28-13 with 5:05 on the clock.

Evergreen added an 8-0 run to pull within 28-21 on a layup by Frohlich-Fair with 3:12 left in the half. The run began with a 3-pointer by Graham and also included a traditional three-point play by Frohlich-Fair. The Warriors led 37-28 at halftime.

The Geoducks began the second half with a 10-4 run to reduce the margin to 41-38 with 16:54 to go. Graham and Wigginton each hit a 3-pointer during the offensive surge. A bit later, the Warriors led by seven points before Jefferson put in a layup to pull Evergreen within 49-44 at the 13:38 mark.

A 3-pointer by Jamare Childs increased the LC State lead to 42-44, and the Warriors led by a similar margin at 55-47. The Geoducks got as close as 55-50 on a 3-point basket by Frohlich-Fair with 9:33 on the clock. Evergreen never got closer, but the Geoducks were within 63-56 after a layup by Jemoi Davis (Sr., W) with 6:00 left. Dylan Skaife sank a 3-pointer for LC State as the clock reached 5:05 to open a 10-0 run for a 73-56 lead.

Evergreen will take on Southern Oregon University on Friday, Jan. 23 at the Costantino Recreation Center. Game time in Olympia, Washington, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PST.