LEWISTON, Idaho – It simply wasn't a good night for Argo basketball. Shots fell for UGF at a decent rate, but a dramatic disparity in points off turnovers and made free throws led to a 90-58 loss to Lewis-Clark State College.
 
The comes two days removed from a potentially season saving win over Montana Tech, and the emotional valley following the high of that win seemed to affect UGF's focus on both ends of the floor.
 
UGF's problems holding onto the ball started early and continued throughout. The Argos turned the ball over four times in the game's first 10 minutes and by the 12:29 mark the team already trailed by 11.
 
When they did hold keep control of the ball on offense, UGF didn't find scoring all that difficult. While the Argos were cold from three, shooting just 16 percent from distance, they shot well as a whole, making 48 percent from the field.
 
The bigger problems lay on the defensive end. Thanks, in part to 20 points off turnovers and 10 points on fast breaks, the Warriors shot a blistering 56 percent from the field including 6-17 from three.
 
With a 21-point margin at the break, the pace of play slowed down a bit in the second half, but not enough to let the Argos back in contest. UGF did knock down four 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes, including three in just over a minute from redshirt-freshman Jacob Wetzel, but those were not enough to make a dent in the deficit.
 
The Argos finished the game with 17 turnovers to LC State's 6, and let up a total of 25 points off turnovers.
 
UGF did finish with a better shooting percentage from 3-point range, 33.3 to LCSC's 20 percent, and wasn't too far behind in overall shooting percentage, 49 percent to 44 percent. The biggest difference in terms of scoring came at the charity stripe where UGF only made half if its shots, while the Warriors shot over 80 percent.
 
Freshman guard Quesly-Marie Noresias finished as UGF's leading scorer with 12 points, his third straight game with over 10 points. Before that run, Noresias had only reached double-digits once – scoring 19 points in a blowout against Dine College on December 21.
 
Closely behind him was senior forward Isaac Howard with 11 points followed by Wetzel with 9 points off his three threes.
 
With the loss, UGF's record falls to 11-14 (3-11) but thinks to Thursday's win against Tech, the Argos still have a firm grip on the last playoff spot in the Frontier Conference. Next up for the Argos is a return home on Thursday, February 16 against Montana State University – Northern at 7:30 p.m. in The McLaughlin Center. The last time UGF hosted Northern, the Argos upset the then ranked Lights 72-59.