Cards return to nest tonight
COEUR d'ALENE - After spending the first three weeks of Scenic West Athletic Conference play on the road, the North Idaho College men's and women's basketball teams will be in some unfamiliar territory tonight.
Both teams begin a seven-game homestand tonight against Utah State-Eastern, starting with the women's game at 5:30 p.m. and men's game to follow at 7:30 at Rolly Williams Court.
"I really don't know," Carlson said. "It's been so long since we've played at home. People say there's no place like home - and we're looking forward to finding out."
In their last home game, the NIC women defeated a group of North Idaho All Stars 67-62 on Dec. 20. Even in that game, they were the visiting team.
"We go and bring in a couple of all-star teams and let them wear the white jerseys," Carlson said. "Even though they're upset because we want to be the home team for a change, we've only gotten to wear them a couple of times this year."
The NIC men's last home game was Dec. 28 against Treasure Valley, a nonconference loss to the Chukars.
"We're excited to be home," NIC men's coach Jared Phay said. "But we've got to come back focused. The only thing about being home is taking some games for granted. Hopefully we've learned from those games and move on from there."
NIC closes out the weekend by hosting Colorado Northwestern on Saturday at 3 p.m. (women's) and 5 (men's).
WOMEN: NIC (19-1, 4-1) leads the conference in scoring at 66.5 points a game and scoring defense with 50.4 allowed. Utah State-Eastern (5-12, 2-3) is last with 57.6 scored and 64.3 allowed this season.
NIC beat Utah State-Eastern 58-54 in the first weekend of conference play Dec. 15 in Price, Utah.
“They’ve got some nice pieces,” Carlson said. “They’ve got some good shooters and their big kids are a real presence for them.”
Utah State-Eastern beat Snow (8-11, 2-3) last Saturday 64-59 in Price.
“They play a pretty random style of basketball sometimes,” Carlson said. “If you’re not on your toes, they can hurt you.”
Renae Mokrzycki, who missed last week’s game at Southern Idaho with a bout of bronchitis, is expected to return for tonight’s game for NIC.
“She’s practiced the last two days,” Carlson said. “She’s up closer to 90 percent and doesn’t seem like she’s trying to catch her breath. She stayed home last week and her host family’s mom is a nurse, so she looks like she’s ready to jump back in there.”
Colorado Northwestern faces Southern Idaho tonight in Twin Falls. Colorado Northwestern (12-8, 1-4) beat Southern Idaho (9-10, 3-2) 74-68 in December.
MEN: The Cardinal men (17-3, 4-1) have won two straight since a 75-74 conference setback at Salt Lake in overtime.
Salt Lake is the league’s lone unbeaten team.
Earlier this year, NIC beat Utah State-Eastern 65-52 in Price. Utah State-Eastern is fourth in the conference at 11-8, 2-3 under first year coach Adjalma Becheli, who was an assistant coach for the Golden Eagles when they placed third in the NJCAA tournament in 2010.
“They’re playing hard,” Phay said. “They’re a very intense team and pride themselves on outworking you. We just need to be able to match them. They’ve got some good bigs and I expect it to be a good, competitive game.”
Chris Sarbaugh, a sophomore transfer from Gonzaga, had 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and five steals in the Cardinals’ 51-47 win at Southern Idaho last Saturday and was later named men’s conference player of the week.
“It’s well deserved,” said Phay of Sarbaugh’s honor. “He played really, really well in Southern Idaho. It was a good night for him and he does a little bit of everything for us. He’s really unselfish and he’s getting the ball to the right guys at the right time to be successful.”