LEWISTON, Idaho – Close wasn't quite good enough for the University of Providence men's basketball team in a 67-60 loss to (10) Lewis-Clark State College. UP led for almost 10 minutes of the second half and was within 2 points with two minutes left, but simply missed too many shots late in the game.
 
Senior guard Jared Schultz helped keep UP right in the thick of it early in the first half with three made 3-point field goals in the first 6 minutes of play. Despite his efforts, the Warriors led throughout almost the entire half. UP did manage to tie the score twice, but couldn't quite get over the hump, particularly after the Warriors learned to cover Schultz a little tighter.
 
As the defense began to focus on and shut down Schultz, fellow senior guard Sergio Berkley took advantage of a spread-out defense with 8 points late in the half off of aggressive drives to the hoop.
 
Their efforts had the Argos within 4 points at the break.
 
The first 4 points of the second half went to the Argos, with senior forward Trayvon Bashir and sophomore guard Quesly-Marie Noresias each getting a bucket to tie the score at 32-32. LCSC held on to the lead for a few more minutes, but at 14:19 another score from Bashir gave UP its first lead since 18:28 in the first half.
 
The Warriors briefly regained the lead a fourth three from Schultz was followed by a layup from senior forward Steven Daho-Clark to give UP a two-score lead. Daho-Clark, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, began to get into a groove over the next few minutes and helped the Argos maintain the lead until the 6:36 mark.
 
A score from junior guard Jack Taylor with just under 6 minutes left put UP back up 53-52, but when LCSC countered with a lead-changing score of their own at 4:47 it marked the last time the Argos would be ahead of the Warriors.
 
Buckets from Berkley and senior point guard DuShaun Rice had the gap back down to 2 points with 2:17 left, but after that, the team's offense went cold. Rice's score at 2:17 was UP's last field goal of the game and one made  free throw  for the senior with 12 seconds remaining was the only other point the team would score before the final buzzer.
 
With 10 points and  team leading  10 rebounds, Daho-Clark finished the contest with his fourth double-double of the year. Schultz was the team's leading scorer with 14 points on 5-10 shooting, including 4-7 from three.
 
For the third time in as many games, Rice finished with 4 steals. He has had more than 1 steal in 10 of the 13 games he has played in. He also was a double-digit scorer in the loss with 10 points.
 
UP's fourth double-digit scorer was Berkley who came off the bench to score 12 points on 6-11 shooting.
 
The loss is the fifth straight for the Argos and puts the team's record at 7-8 (1-4). UP will return home for a game against Montana State University-Northern on January 17 at 7:30 p.m.