The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Dec. 5, 2012

There's a difference between what happened on Friday night at North Idaho College and another game I saw on Saturday in a high school boys basketball tournament.

In both cases, the games were blowouts, but when the Mullan Tigers lost to the Orofino Maniacs at the Silver Valley Tournament in Wallace, there was a lot more wrong than just the final score.

WHEN THE North Idaho College men's basketball team took on Edmonds Community College of Lynnwood, Wash., in the first game of the Bigfoot/Cardinal Classic, both teams exchanged baskets throughout the first 10 minutes of the game.

Then, the floodgates opened soon after and the Cardinals gained a 55-37 halftime lead.

Edmonds proceeded to shoot 7 of 30 (22.2 percent) from the field in the second half and 5 of 12 (41 percent) from the foul line, compared to NIC shooting 16 of 29 (55.2) and 4 of 6 (66.7) in the same span.

NIC was taller, quicker and more athletic than Edmonds, which plays in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges and used their depth to pull away in the second half.

The Cardinals did it on Saturday against Yakima Valley Community College and again Sunday against Green River Community College of Auburn, Wash., to win the tournament in Coeur d'Alene.

What this will mean for the upcoming Scenic West Athletic Conference schedule remains to be seen as the talent level will increase a lot more.

But being 11-1 and ranked 15th in the NJCAA, with road trips to Arizona and North Dakota under their belts, is not as easy as it looks.

No matter if the Cardinals have made it seem that way.

OFTEN TIMES, when teams play in early season tournaments, you get a mismatch or two in consolation games.

Saturday’s consolation game in the Silver Valley tournament was a good case of that.

Orofino, which plays in the 2A Central Idaho League, took on the Mullan Tigers of the 1A North Star League.

Orofino lost to eventual champion Kellogg 64-49 in the first game of the tournament and wound up playing Mullan in the consolation game on Saturday.

Mullan only has seven players on its roster.

There’s been times when I’ve seen the Tigers not only compete, but win this tournament against teams like Kellogg and Wallace.

This wasn’t one of those times.

Mullan fell behind early and wasn’t able to keep up in an 84-29 loss, with some of those players getting their first experience on the varsity level.

Losing by that much is one thing, but to see Orofino press up by 40 points and shooting 3-pointers in the second half made it clear the Maniacs were out for a lot more than just a win.

Orofino could have scored 100 points in that game, but didn’t quite get that far.

Winning gracefully is something that NIC has done all season.

It seemed to be missing at the high school level on Saturday.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].