NIC BASKETBALL: Card teams win to earn splits

| January 6, 2013 8:00 PM

EPHRAIM, Utah - Jalil Abdul-Bassit hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime and hit another to start overtime - finishing with 17 points as the 13th-ranked North Idaho College Cardinals men's basketball team beat the Snow Badgers 84-77 on Saturday in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game.

Chris Sarbaugh and Michael Middlebrooks had 14 points each for NIC (16-3, 3-1 SWAC), which travels to Southern Idaho next Saturday.

"We needed this one badly," NIC coach Jared Phay said. "Road splits keep us in contention to win the conference and tonight was a must win. Jalil hit a big one (at the end of regulation) and another starting overtime. Chris hit a basket to give us the lead and we were able to hold them off."

NIC lost to Salt Lake 75-74 on Thursday in Salt Lake City and led Snow by 12 points in overtime with 2:33 remaining before Connor Van Brocklin hit a pair of 3-pointers for Snow.

Van Brocklin scored a game-high 35 points for Snow (13-4, 1-2).

"He's really, really good," Phay said. "We gave him some open looks in the first half, but the ones he hit in overtime were from 30 feet with a hand in his face, and you can't do much else about those."

NORTH IDAHO

Jordan McCloud 1-4 0-0 2, Jalil Abdul-Bassit 6-15 3-4 17, Chris Sarbaugh 5-10 2-4 14, Jason Wheelock 0-1 0-0 0, Keon Lewis 3-8 3-6 10, Michael Middlebrooks 7-8 0-1 14, Mikey Hope 3-6 2-2 8, Dalen Erickson 0-0 0-0 0, James Webb 3-7 3-4 10, Cole Luckett 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan Rathbun 0-2 0-0 2, Kaj Sherman 3-6 3-5 9. Totals 31-67 16-26 84.

Nick Gruninger 3-9 1-1 7, Tim Hughes 0-1 0-0 0, Matt Pelo 0-0 0-0 0, Casey Taylor 0-0 1-2 1, Cheikh Sane 3-7 3-4 9, Haudrick Hillaire 2-7 1-6 6, Rhett Bird 0-0 0-0 0, Robert Baltruns 2-5 0-0 5, London Simonsen 3-5 0-1 7, Connor Van Brocklin 10-22 8-9 35, Brock Smith 3-10 1-4 7, Brad Mears 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-67 15-27 77.

Halftime - Snow 27-21. 3-point goals - NIC 6-19 (Abdul-Bassit 2-9, Sarbaugh 2-4, Wheelock 0-1, Lewis 1-2, Hope 0-2, Webb 1-1), Snow 10-30 (Gruninger 0-2, Hillaire 1-4, Baltruns 1-4, Simonsen 1-3, Van Brocklin 7-17). Rebounds - NIC 38 (Webb 11), Snow 42 (Sane 11). Assists - NIC 13 (Sarbaugh 7), Snow 18 (Gruninger 7). Team fouls - NIC 21, Snow 20. Fouled out - Abdul-Bassit.

* WOMEN

North Idaho 56

Snow 47

EPHRAIM, Utah - Katie Buskey scored 15 points and Kabri Emerson added 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor as the top-ranked (NJCAA) Cardinals defeated the Badgers in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game.

Snow (7-10, 1-2 SWAC) led 24-23 at the half, but was held to 9-of-29 shooting in the second half, compared to 13 of 27 for NIC (18-1, 3-1).

"We played really, really well in the second half," NIC coach Chris Carlson said. "It was a one-point game at the half, but we really dictated the flow of the game and forced some action."

Angela Woods scored 13 points, including three 3-pointers in the second half for NIC, which travels to face Southern Idaho next Saturday in Twin Falls. CSI (9-9, 3-1) beat Salt Lake (10-6, 1-2) 55-39 in other SWAC play on Saturday in Salt Lake City, and Utah State-Eastern (4-11, 1-2) upset Colorado Northwestern (12-6, 1-2) 62-53 in overtime in Rangely, Colo.

NORTH IDAHO

Angela Woods 5-9 0-0 13, Katie Buskey 6-12 1-1 15, Tori Davenport 1-2 0-0 2, Kabri Emerson 6-12 1-3 13, Georgia Stirton 1-6 1-5 4, Aimee Durbidge 1-3 2-2 4, Renae Mokrzycki 1-5 0-3 2, Mollie Kramer 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Love 0-5 1-5 1, Danika Johnson 1-6 0-0 2. Totals 22-60 6-19 56.

Kiz Farrer 3-6 0-0 7, Becca Rees 0-8 0-0 0, Amber Daly 2-7 6-6 10, Tristin Bowers 0-0 0-0 0, Sydney Webb 1-2 0-0 2, Courtnie Duncan 5-11 2-2 14, Jordi Wilden 1-7 1-2 3, Hailey Larsen 1-6 2-4 4, Kobe Farrer 0-0 0-0 0, Vika Havili 2-4 0-4 4, Emily Howey 1-1 1-2 3, Lyssa Hanks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-52 12-20 47.

Halftime - Snow 24-23. 3-point goals - NIC 6-15 (Woods 3-5, Buskey 2-5, Davenport 0-1, Stirton 1-3, Durbidge 0-1), Snow 3-14 (Ki. Farrer 1-1, Rees 0-6, Daly 0-1, Duncan 2-5, Larsen 0-1). Rebounds - NIC 33 (Love 8), Snow 41 (Wilden 9). Assists - NIC 9 (Buskey 4), Snow 10 (Rees, Larsen 3). Team fouls - NIC 19, Snow 18. Fouled out - none.