NIC BASKETBALL: Cardinal men hold off Salt Lake, remain perfect
• MEN
COEUR d’ALENE — The North Idaho College men’s basketball team weathered not one, but two missed shots in the closing seconds by Salt Lake Community College and kept their perfect season intact with a 91-90 victory in Scenic West Athletic Conference play Thursday night at Rolly Williams Court.
After Braian Angola-Rodas hit two free throws with 20 seconds left to put third-ranked NIC (29-0, 14-0) up 91-90, Cardinal coach Corey Symons called timeout.
“We’d been talking as a team that we needed to play better defense, and we had a hard time guarding people,” he said. “But they sat down and played defense (on that last possession). It was a big win for us.”
Salt Lake (22-7, 9-5) led by nine points in the first half, and was up 87-80 late in the second half.
NIC battled back, and a basket by backup point guard Sam Dowd put the Cardinals up 89-87.
Bushman Ebet’s 3-pointer put Salt Lake up 90-89 with under a minute left, then Angola-Rodas drove to the basket, got fouled and delivered the go-ahead points.
“It was big for our bench to step up,” Symons said. “Sam Dowd played absolutely unbelievable. He played tenacious defense. He won the game for us. And Scott Turner (the former Lake City High standout) played great defensive minutes at the end for us.”
In the closing seconds, a shot off the drive by Salt Lake bounced hard off the glass and rim, and NIC knocked the ball out of bounds with .5 seconds left. Salt Lake inbounded near the top of the key, where Conner Toolson, who finished with 26 points, caught the ball going up and shot it, but the ball bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
NIC tries to wrap up a perfect regular season Saturday at 5 p.m. at home vs. Snow.
SALT LAKE
Gibson Johnson 6-7 0-0 16, Bushmen Ebet 4-8 2-2 12, Marcus White 2-6 1-4 6, Tyler Rawson 5-7 4-4 15, Tad Dufelmeier 2-7 4-4 9, Auston Waddoups 1-4 0-3 3, Conner Toolson 7-10 6-8 26, Mckay Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Chrisitian Musoko 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 28-51 18-24 90.
NORTH IDAHO
Sam Dowd 4-6 2-3 11, Lucas Antunez 2-7 7-7 12, Haywood Irwin 0-0 0-0 0, Trey Burch-Manning 1-2 3-4 5, BJ Blake 5-12 4-6 15, Braian Angola-Rodas 6-13 8-13 25, Kaleb Warner 2-2 0-0 6, Kyle Guice 4-7 0-0 12, Ziggy Satterthwaite 1-4 1-2 3, Scott Turner 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-54 25-35 91.
Halftime — SLCC 51-49. 3-point goals — SLCC 16-26 (Johnson 4-4, Ebet 2-4, White 1-1, Rawson 1-3, Dufelmeier 1-3, Waddoups 1-3, Toolson 6-8), NIC 14-26 (Dowd 1-1, Antunez 1-3, Blake 1-5, Angola-Rodas 5-9, Warner 2-2, Guice 4-7). Rebounds — SLCC 32 (Dufelmeier 7), NIC 25 (Blake 5). Assists — SLCC 15 (Dufelmeier 4), NIC 16 (Antunez, Angola-Rodas 5). Fouled out — Johnson, Rawson. Total fouls — SLCC 31, NIC 22.
• WOMEN
Salt Lake 73
North Idaho 57
COEUR d’ALENE — The Bruins (28-1, 13-1 SWAC) wrapped up their third straight SWAC title with the win over the Cardinals (19-7, 7-7). No other details were available. NIC hosts Snow on Saturday at 3 p.m.