NIC BASKETBALL: No. 3 Cardinal men improve to 28-0
• MEN
PRICE, Utah — BJ Blake scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the first half as the third-ranked North Idaho Cardinals beat the Utah State-Eastern Golden Eagles 110-75 on Saturday in their final Scenic West Athletic Conference road game of the season.
NIC, which finished with five players in double figures, shot 44 of 77 (57.1 percent) from the floor in the game, including 14 of 23 from beyond the 3-point line.
“Our shots were falling pretty well in the first half,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “Braian (Angola-Rodas) hit a half-court shot at the buzzer and got us out to a nice lead. The guys guarded a lot better in the second half and we got some shots going down and the momentum rolling in our direction.”
NIC sophomore point guard Lucas Antunez keyed a 20-0 run in the second half with three 3-pointers in as many possessions.
“We shared the ball well and moved it around,” Symons said. “We’re a pretty tough team to beat when we’re knocking down shots.”
NIC outrebounded Utah State-Eastern 47-36, including 17 on the offensive end.
“We’ve been focusing on and preaching rebounding the last couple of weeks,” Symons said. “I wasn’t happy we gave up 15 to them, but that 17 was huge for us.”
Solomon Rolls-Tyson and Alexander Morrell had 21 points apiece for Utah State-Eastern (16-13, 3-11).
NIC (28-0, 13-0 SWAC) hosts Salt Lake on Thursday and Snow on Saturday to wrap up the regular season.
In other SWAC play on Saturday, Southern Idaho (20-8, 8-5) rolled past Colorado Northwestern (3-25, 0-14) 86-45 in Rangely, Colo.
NORTH IDAHO
Lucas Antunez 3-6 2-2 11, BJ Blake 12-17 2-5 26, Braian Angola-Rodas 5-11 0-0 13, Kaleb Warner 4-6 0-0 10, Kyle Guice 2-5 0-0 6, Sam Dowd 3-6 1-1 8, Haywood Irwin 4-8 2-2 10, Trey Burch-Manning 4-8 1-2 9, Dylan Okoro 1-2 0-0 2, Zaequan Satterhwaite 1-2 0-0 2, Scott Turner 3-4 0-0 8, Tony Naccarato 2-2 0-0 5. Totals 44-77 8-12 110.
UTAH STATE-EASTERN
Philip Winston 8-19 1-4 19, Solomon Rolls-Tyson 6-10 6-9 21, Tevin Farris 3-12 0-0 7, Austin Anderson 2-7 0-0 5, Alexander Morrell 9-19 3-5 21, Dexter Bethers 0-0 0-0 0, Grant Belnap 0-0 2-3 2. Totals 28-67 12-21 75.
Halftime — NIC 48-37. 3-point goals — NIC 14-23 (Antunez 3-4, Angola-Rodas 3-5, Warner 2-2, Guice 2-4, Dowd 1-2, Irwin 0-2, Turner 2-3, Naccarato 1-1), USUE 7-21 (Winston 2-4, Rolls-Tyson 3-6, Farris 1-5, Anderson 1-6). Rebounds — NIC 47 (Angola-Rodas 8), USUE 36 (Farris 10). Assists — NIC 26 (Angola-Rodas 7), USUE 14 (Winston, Rolls-Tyson 4). Team fouls — NIC 19, USUE 12. Fouled out — none.
• WOMEN
North Idaho 53
USU-Eastern 43
PRICE, Utah — Maci Benedict scored 15 points, including 5 of 8 from the 3-point line, as the Cardinals beat the Golden Eagles in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game.
“It wasn’t much of an offensive battle, but our defense was solid,” NIC coach Chris Carlson said. “Maci hit five 3s and gave us a big boost. One of them was about 25 feet away. It was a real good defensive battle. I thought our ability to shut them down was the key. We zoned them in the first quarter, so that wasn’t working so hot. When we went man-to-man, we were rock solid. It was a grind-’em-out type of game.”
Stormee Van Belle had 14 points and 11 rebounds for NIC (19-7, 7-6 SWAC), which finished the game 18 of 70 (25.7 percent) from the field, and forced 19 turnovers by Utah State-Eastern (8-19, 1-13).
Maile Richardson had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Utah State-Eastern.
In other conference play, 10th-ranked Southern Idaho (25-3, 10-3) beat Colorado Northwestern (9-17, 1-13) 74-54 in Rangely, Colo.
NORTH IDAHO
Maci Benedict 5-11 0-0 15, Shelby Cloninger 2-11 0-0 4, Monica Landdeck 0-6 0-0 0, Ebony Norman 1-6 0-0 2, Stormee Van Belle 5-13 4-7 14, Gracie Roberts 1-6 3-4 5, Alyssa Case 0-1 0-0 0, Jocelyn Cook-Cox 2-5 0-0 4, Grace Varcoe 2-11 4-6 8, Charity Marlatt 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 18-70 12-19 53.
UTAH STATE-EASTERN
Maile Richardson 5-10 2-4 12, Clarissa Perez 4-8 1-2 10, Ashley Price 0-3 0-0 0, Ashlyn Coleman 1-4 0-0 2, Ana Borges 3-12 0-4 6, Bryndie Ballam 0-2 4-4 4, Mckenzie Burrows 1-2 0-0 2, Barbara Cousino Contreras 1-6 0-0 3, Mateah Tuckett 1-4 2-3 9-17 43.
North Idaho 13 17 10 13 — 53
USU-Eastern 17 8 9 9 — 43
3-point goals — NIC 5-23 (Benedict 5-8, Cloninger 0-2, Landdeck 0-2, Norman 0-4, Van Belle 0-2, Roberts 0-2, Case 0-1, Cook-Cox 0-2), USUE 2-10 (Perez 1-2, Price 0-1, Coleman 0-1, Cousino Contreras 1-4, Tuckett 0-2). Rebounds — NIC 51 (Van Belle, Varcoe 11), USUE 47 (Richardson 12). Assists — NIC 12 (Benedict, Landdeck 4), USUE 6 (Perez 2). Team fouls — NIC 20, USUE 16. Fouled out — Varcoe.