From hunters to hunted
LOREN BENOIT/Press North Idaho College guard Halle Eborall dribbles the ball down the court in a game against Community Colleges of Spokane in February.
LOREN BENOIT/Press North Idaho College’s Alphonso Anderson shoots a three over Garrett White of Community Colleges of Spokane at Rolly Williams Court on Feb. 20.
As the third seed from the East Region in 2018, North Idaho College made a run to the Northwest Athletic Conference title.
A double-overtime win over tournament host Everett, then two more close wins in the semifinals and finals landed the men’s basketball program their first title since joining the league for the 2016-17 season.
Now, the Cardinal men will be the hunted, opening defense of the championship today at Everett Community College against Clackamas of Oregon City, Ore., at 10 a.m.
“We’ve been in both spots, and were definitely more successful with being the latter,” said NIC coach Corey Symons of the team’s favorite label. “We’re just trying to stay up and be ready to go.”
After Sunday’s selection show, NIC moved practices to the morning to prepare for the early tipoff.
“It’s different,” said Symons, whose team usually plays at 7:30 p.m. “College kids aren’t typically morning kids, but since we knew we were playing at 10, we’ve had them up early.”
A team from the East Region has won the last three championships (Spokane in 2016 and Walla Walla in 2017).
MEN: NIC (27-2) faces Clackamas (20-8), the fourth seed from the South Region.
“They’re a good team,” Symons said. “They’re typically one of the top teams in the NWAC and know that they’re going to come ready to play.”
Symons added Lane (25-3) — the South champion — and Everett (22-7), the champion of the North Region, could also be teams to challenge for the title.
“Everett is really good and also went undefeated in league,” Symons said. “There’s a lot of really good teams in the tournament.”
NIC leads the conference in scoring at 105.5 points per game and allows 72.5 defensively.
“We’ve got to do the same thing we’ve been doing all season,” Symons said. “We’ve got to rebound and get the ball down the court. If we do the same thing we’ve been doing all season, and don’t try to do it ourselves, we should be OK.”
NIC’s closest margin of victory in conference was eight points, beating Treasure Valley 97-89 on Feb. 2 in Ontario, Ore. In its last seven conference games following the Treasure Valley game, NIC outscored its opponents by 266 points.
“We’ve got four or five guys that are capable of scoring 30 points a night,” Symons said. “When they’re all playing well, we keeping feeding them.”
Nate Pryor (18.8 points per game), RayQuan Evans (17.5 ppg) and Alphonso Anderson (15.3 ppg) have led the balanced Cardinal offense this year. Freshman Emmitt Taylor III — a reserve guard from Lapwai — is averaging 14 points per game.
“We’ve had guys step up all over,” Symons said. “Those guys are sharing the ball as well and getting everyone involved.”
Today’s winner will face either Centralia (9-10) or Edmonds (19-9) in the Elite 8 on Friday at 1 p.m.
“We’re deep with a lot of talented players,” Symons said. “Right now, the key thing is keeping everyone involved and bought in. We’ll need to do that through the postseason.”
WOMEN: You can define the Dec. 16 home loss in overtime to Umpqua as the one that got away for the NIC women’s basketball team.
Coach Chris Carlson remembers.
As do his players.
“They’re just like us,” Carlson said. “They’ve got one sophomore kid that plays a lot, and a bunch of freshmen. We had a good overtime battle with them.”
NIC, leading by seven late in regulation, was stunned by Umpqua 83-72 in overtime at Rolly Williams Court in December. The teams will meet again in the opening round of the NWAC women’s tournament on Saturday at 2 p.m.
“I think it’s a good thing that we’ve seen them before,” Carlson said. “We should have had them before. In that previous game, we let a lead slip away and were trying to hurry up and win. Since then, we’ve learned to manage the game a little better.”
NIC (20-8) finished fourth in the East Region. Umpqua (25-4) is the South Region champion.
“Our overall teamwork and focus at times has been outstanding,” Carlson said. “We’ve been playing like a team. With a freshmen group, we’ve had some strange losses, and it shows the up and downs of the freshmen. When we’ve had to make all the plays, we’ve been able to step up and do that. When we’ve played as a team, we’ve been really good.”
Saturday’s winner will face either Whatcom (17-9) or Grays Harbor (15-11) on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Elite 8.
“I love our focus right now,” Carlson said. “I think the girls are up for the challenge and really want to come out and play great.”
Defending champion Walla Walla (20-9) faces Lane (26-3) in its opener.