LEWISTON, Idaho – Jordan O'Byrne scored a season-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting as No.7 ranked College of Idaho knocked off host Lewis-Clark State in Game 2 of the 2014 Clearwater River Casino Invite, 83-70.
The host Warriors (5-1) entered the battle of unbeaten teams with five wins by an average of 38 points a game, putting up an early fight, leading 16-10 through the first eight minutes of the game.
The Coyotes (6-0) would knot things back up at 22, with back-to-back three-point field goals by Joey Nebeker and O'Byrne, the first of his five triples.
Andrew Bruce came off the bench, providing a key three-pointer to tie the game at 31-31 with just under four-minutes remaining in the half, taking a 41-39 lead at the break thanks to a Josh Wilson deuce in the final minute.
Entering the game, C of I had won 26-straight games when they led at the half. Demetrius Perkins would make sure that streak stayed intact, scoring 17 points, including a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch.
"Our emphasis is conditioning and the way we practice grooms our guys to be great in the second half, playing hard and smart throughout the entire 40-minutes. Our guys are mentally tough and we have found ways to win games in the second half," head coach Scott Garson said.
C of I was finally able to pull away from the Warriors with five-minutes remaining as Emanuel Morgan stole the ball from LCSC's Brady Bagby and handed out one of his five assists, setting up an O'Byrne's triple to give the Coyotes a 69-57 lead.
The Yotes would not allow the lead to dip below nine points the rest of the way, stretching the margin out to 74-59 with just under four-minutes to play as O'Byrne stole the rock from Cammie Lewis, hit Morgan on the outlet who gave it right back to O'Byrne, hitting from three-point land again.
A point of emphasis this season for the Coyotes has been their conditioning and depth, both of which ended up being key reasons C of I was able to win the ballgame. Morgan came off the bench and provided a spark at the point, with Joe Vaz scoring ten points and grabbing nine boards, and O'Byrne grabbing five boards and dishing out two of C of I's 19 assists.
L-C would get double-digit production from two players - Erick Diouf scored 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting and Jacob Wiley scored a team-high 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Despite being the first team this season to outrebound the Coyotes (44-43), the Warriors 37-percent shooting, including 13-missed shots from three-point territory would end up haunting them.
"Rebounding is an emphasis for us; we were down five on the boards at the last media timeout and ended up grabbing four more rebounds than them down the stretch," Garson said. "That's the best set of big guys we have seen all season and our guys did a great job defending them down the stretch."
C of I remained unbeaten through six games, the first time a Coyote team has done so since the 1991-92 season.
The Yotes will put their unbeaten streak on the line tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. (PT), when they close out tournament play against Montana Tech.
