NIC ROUNDUP: No. 4 Cardinal men come on strong in second half
• MEN’S BASKETBALL
COEUR d’ALENE — For about 35 minutes on Saturday evening, the Utah State-Eastern Golden Eagles gave the fourth-ranked North Idaho Cardinals all they could ask for — and a little more — in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game.
But that final five minutes is what will keep NIC on the top of the men’s standings.
NIC outscored Utah State-Eastern 11-2 in the final two minutes to preserve a 79-68 win at Rolly Williams Court, improving to 23-0, 8-0 in conference.
“The ball just wasn’t bouncing for us tonight,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “They were beating us to the loose balls, hitting shots and were just taking it to us.”
NIC also suffered a setback with BJ Blake picking up his second foul, forcing him to the bench with 14 minutes remaining in the first half.
“That kind of hurt us because he’s our motor out on the court,” Symons said. “We knew we were going to face some adversity. But they’re a tough team and play seven guys. They just beat us for 35 minutes and we were lucky to wear them out down the stretch.”
Braian Angola-Rodas had 31 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals for NIC, which plays at Salt Lake on Thursday. Earlier Saturday, Salt Lake beat Snow 93-92 in overtime in Salt Lake City and Southern Idaho rolled past Colorado Northwestern 81-57 in Twin Falls.
NIC shot 15 of 32 from the field in the second half and finished the game 27 of 32 from the free-throw line.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well throughout the entire game,” Symons said. “It wasn’t just the shots in either half really, but we just kept fighting in the second half and our defense was good all night and helped keep us afloat until we started to hit some shots late.”
Philip Winston scored 20 points for Utah State-Eastern (14-10, 1-8),
UTAH STATE-EASTERN
Brandon Sly 3-9 6-6 12, Philip Winston 7-15 2-4 20, Solomon Rolls-Tyson 8-14 0-0 18, Grant Belnap 0-3 0-0 0, Tevin Farris 1-3 0-0 2, Austin Anderson 2-9 0-0 5, Alexander Morrell 5-5 1-1 11. Totals 26-58 9-11 68.
NORTH IDAHO
Sam Dowd 0-2 0-0 0, Lucas Antunez 2-6 0-0 6, Haywood Irwin 1-4 0-0 2, Trey Burch-Manning 0-2 0-0 0, BJ Blake 7-10 7-9 21, Braian Angola-Rodas 6-14 17-19 3, Kaleb Warner 3-10 0-0 7, Kyle Guice 3-9 3-4 10, Zaequan Satterhwaite 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 23-58 27-32 79.
Halftime — UEU 36-27. 3-point goals — UEU 7-26 (Sly 0-2, Winston 4-8, Rolls-Tyson 2-6, Belnap 0-1, Farris 0-2, Anderson 1-7), NIC 6-26 (Dowd 0-2, Antunez 2-5, Irwin 0-2, Blake 0-1, Angola-Rodas 2-6, Warner 1-4, Guice 1-6). Rebounds — UEU 37 (Sly, Rolls-Tyson, Farris 7), NIC 32 (Angola-Rodas 8). Assists — UEU 12 (Sly 6), NIC 15 (Angola-Rodas 5). Team fouls — UEU 23, NIC 11. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — Blake, Angola-Rodas.
• WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
North Idaho 83
USU-Eastern 44
COEUR d’ALENE — Stormee Van Belle had 15 points and nine rebounds to lead the 25th ranked Cardinals to a Scenic West Athletic Conference win against the Golden Eagles at Rolly Williams Court.
“It was a total team effort,” NIC coach Chris Carlson said. “We got off to a great start early and it was nice to start well out of the chute. The first half, we built a nice lead and I was really happy with our defense. I thought we defended everything they could do.”
Shelby Cloninger had 13 points, five rebounds and two steals for NIC (17-4, 5-3 SWAC), which visits fourth-ranked Salt Lake on Thursday. In other SWAC play Saturday, Salt Lake beat Snow 73-52 at Salt Lake City and Southern Idaho rolled past Colorado Northwestern 85-55 in Twin Falls.
Clarissa Perez scored 13 points for Utah State-Eastern (8-14, 1-8).
UTAH STATE-EASTERN
Maile Richardson 3-5 0-0 6, Bryndie Ballam 0-2 1-2 1, Clarissa Perez 4-10 2-2 13, Mkenzie Burrows 0-1 0-0 0, Ayanna Ford 0-4 0-2 0, Barbara Cousino Contreras 0-6 0-0 0, Mateah Tuckett 1-4 0-0 2, Jada Clark 4-5 2-2 10, Ashlyn Coleman 0-2 0-0 0, Ana Borges 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 17-53 6-10 44.
NORTH IDAHO
Sidney Davis 1-1 2-2 4, Gracie Roberts 1-6 1-3 3, Maci Benedict 1-6 1-2 4, Alyssa Case 0-2 0-0 0, Shelby Cloninger 6-11 0-1 13, Kaylee Olson 0-2 0-0 0, Monica Landdeck 2-9 1-2 5, Jocelyn Cook-Cox 3-6 0-0 7, Ebony Norman 4-8 2-2 12, Clarissa Smith 3-4 0-0 7, Stormee Van Belle 5-9 5-6 15, Grace Varcoe 4-6 1-3 9, Charity Marlatt 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 32-72 13-21 83.
USU-Eastern 10 7 15 12 — 44
North Idaho 24 20 18 21 — 83
3-point goals — UEU 4-15 (Ballum 0-1, Perez 3-6, Cousino Contreras 0-3, Price 1-2, Tuckett 0-2, Coleman 0-1), NIC 6-26 (Roberts 0-4, Benedict 1-3, Cloninger 1-1, Olson 0-2, Landdeck 0-4, Cook-Cox 1-4, Norman 2-6, Smith 1-2). Rebounds — UEU 33 (Clark 6), NIC 48 (Van Belle 9). Assists — UEU 10 (Ford 3), NIC 12 (Varcoe 3). Team fouls — UEU 22, NIC 13. Fouled out — none.
• WRESTLING
Clackamas 31
North Idaho 12
OREGON CITY, Ore. — Dajour Reece picked up a pin at 165 pounds for the eighth-ranked Cardinals in a dual against the sixth-ranked Cougars, who took advantage of three forfeits and handed NIC its second dual loss in two nights.
“With Dajour, that was a big pin and he’s been solid for us all year,” NIC coach Pat Whitcomb said. “But we’ve just got to get our injuries taken care of and get better from this.”
NIC competes in the Clackamas Open starting today at 10 a.m., with finals beginning at 4 p.m.
“We’re hoping to get Deondre (Wilson) back tomorrow and going again,” Whitcomb said. “We’ve got to get these guys healthy and back on track.”
125 — Dorian Sapien, Clack, md. Garrett White, 12-4 133 — Isaac Aguilar, NIC, by forfeit. 141 — Zechariah Bresser, Clack, by forfeit. 149 — Christopher Garcia, p. Jaren Sumauang, 1:39. 157 — Brandon Davidson, Clack, by forfeit. 165 — Dajour Reece, NIC, p. Tommy Brewster, 5:42. 174 — Brendan Harkey, Clack, d. Alex Aguilar, 5-1. 184 — Haszell West, Clack, tf. Tim Parten, 19-4. 197 — John Morin, Clack, by forfeit. 285 — Brandon Johnson, Clack, d. Damian Trujillo, 7-2.