Defending champ NIC opens with romp
EVERETT, Wash. — Inside and out, North Idaho College has been flexing its muscle against teams from the Northwest Athletic Conference’s East Region since the start of January.
Thursday morning’s opener in the conference championship tournament — at least from the inside — was no exception.
NIC finished with five players in double figures, led by freshman Nate Pryor with 23 points as the Cardinals, the top seed from the East Region and defending champion, rolled past the Clackamas Cougars 105-68 at Everett Community College.
NIC (28-2) outscored Clackamas (20-9) 64-22 in the paint, finishing 43 of 87 from the field.
“That’s really kind of our game,” said NIC sophomore guard RayQuan Evans in a postgame interview on NWACSports.org. “We’ve got a lot of different guys that can score and post up down low. It just kind of came natural, and we were able to start fanning it out when they started to take certain things away.”
Clay Sullivan scored 19 points for Clackamas, the fourth seed from the South Region, which finishes 20-9.
Evans, named the East Region Player of the Year, finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. Alphonso Anderson, who has signed with Utah State, added 20 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman guard Emmitt Taylor III added 14 points and six rebounds off the bench.
“We’re 12 to 15 players deep,” Anderson said. “We’ve got some redshirts that could be playing in other places. It really helps us in practice each day because we’re going against the best in the NWAC 1 to 15.”
NIC will face Centralia (20-10) in the quarterfinals today at 1 p.m. Centralia, the No. 3 seed from the West Region, clipped Edmonds, the No. 2 seed from the North Region, 73-71 in the tourney’s opening game.
“Last year was the first championship in basketball in program history,” said Evans, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player in 2018. “Having that, it’s a little bit of motivation for those guys that want to go back to back, and especially for those guys that don’t have rings yet.”
CLACKAMAS
Elliott Hesse 0-2 0-0 0, Robert Ford 4-14 0-0 11, Matt O’Brien 2-11 0-0 4, Clay Sullivan 7-14 0-0 19, Adam Gehrig 6-14 1-1 17, Soloman Escalante 0-0 0-0 0, Devon Banks 2-11 1-2 6, Jamie Stull 0-0 0-0 0, Tariq Harris 4-13 2-5 11, David Lyubchenko 0-0 0-0 0, Mathias Nchekwube 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-80 4-8 68.
NORTH IDAHO
RayQuan Evans 7-12 5-6 20, Nate Pryor 11-18 1-2 23, Phillip Malatare 5-9 2-2 12, Alphonso Anderson 9-19 1-3 20, Jarod Greene 1-6 2-4 4, Emmitt Taylor III 6-11 0-0 14, Iaian McLaughlin 1-3 1-2 3, Yusuf Mohammed 2-3 1-2 5, James Carlson 0-2 0-0 0, Ismael Valdez 0-3 2-2 2, Drew Sheridan 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 43-87 105.
Halftime — NIC 51-31. 3-point goals — Clack 14-48 (Hesse 0-1, Ford 3-8, O’Brien 0-5, Sullivan 5-12, Gehrig 4-9, Banks 1-7, Harris 1-6), NIC 4-18 (Evans 1-3, Pryor 0-1, Anderson 1-4, Taylor III 2-7, Mohammed 0-1, Carlson 0-2). Rebounds — Clack 37 (O’Brien 11), NIC 59 (Anderson 12). Assists — Clack 16 (Ford 6), NIC 21 (Evans 9). Team fouls — 21, NIC 10. Fouled out — Ford, Harris.
NWAC MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
At Everett Community College
Thursday’s Games
Centralia 73, Edmonds 71
North Idaho 105, Clackamas 68
Green River 89, Peninsula 66
Lane 95, Wenatchee Valley 87
Spokane 90, Umpqua 77
Whatcom 64, South Puget Sound 58
Lower Columbia 96, Everett 94, OT
Game 8 — South No. 3 Chemeketa (18-8) vs. East No. 2 Walla Walla (19-10), late
Friday’s Games
Game 9 — Centralia (20-10) vs. North Idaho (28-2), 1 p.m.
Game 10 — Green River (20-10) vs. Lane (26-3), 3 p.m.
Game 11 — Spokane (21-9) vs. Whatcom (14-13), 5 p.m.
Game 12 — Lower Columbia (19-10) vs. Winner Game 8, 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 16
Semifinals
Game 13 — Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 5 p.m.
Game 14 — Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12, 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 17
Championship
Semifinal winners, 4:45 p.m.
ALL-EAST REGION TEAM
Most Valuable Player — RayQuan Evans, so., North Idaho
Coach of the Year — Corey Symons, North Idaho
Freshman of the Year — Malik Parsons, Wenatchee Valley
Defensive Player of the Year — Jake Albright, so., Walla Walla
First team
Koby Huerta, so., Big Bend; Malik Parsons, fr., Wenatchee Valley; Nate Pryor, fr., North Idaho; Damen Thacker, so., Walla Walla; Jaden Vaughn, so., Treasure Valley.
Second team
Jake Albright, so., Walla Walla; Alphonso Anderson, so., North Idaho; Seraphin Decker, so., Big Bend; Dedrick Pakootas, so., Spokane; Garrett White, so., Spokane.
All-defensive team
Miles Brown, so., Big Bend; RayQuan Evans, so., North Idaho; Jarod Greene, so., North Idaho; Anthony Parker, so., Spokane; Kaleo Pogue, fr., Treasure Valley.
NWAC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
At Everett Community College
Saturday’s Games
Game 1 — West No. 3 Centralia (14-14) vs. North No. 2 Olympic (11-12), 8 a.m.
Game 2 — South No. 4 Mt. Hood (20-9) vs. East No. 1 Big Bend (25-4), 10 a.m.
Game 3 — North No. 3 Whatcom (17-9) vs. West No. 2 Grays Harbor (15-11), noon
Game 4 — East No. 4 North Idaho (20-8) vs. South No. 1 Umpqua (25-4), 2 p.m.
Game 5 — East No. 3 Walla Walla (20-9) vs. South No. 2 Lane (26-3), 4 p.m.
Game 6 — North No. 4 Skagit Valley (14-13) vs. West No. 1 Lower Columbia (20-9), 6 p.m.
Game 7 — West No. 4 Highline (12-13) vs. North No. 1 Peninsula (18-8), 8 p.m.
Game 8 — South No. 2 Clackamas (15-10) vs. East No. 2 Wenatchee Valley (24-5).
Sunday’s Games
Game 9 — Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 1 p.m.
Game 10 — Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 3 p.m.
Game 11 — Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 5 p.m.
Game 12 — Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 16
Semifinals
Game 13 — Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 1 p.m.
Game 14 — Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12, 3 p.m.
Sunday, March 17
Championship
Semifinal winners, 2 p.m.
ALL-EAST REGION TEAM
Most Valuable Player — Ashlyn Burgess, so., Wenatchee Valley
Coach of the Year — Preston Wilkes, Big Bend
Freshman of the Year — Sailor Liefke, Walla Walla; Koyama Young, Spokane
Defensive Player of the Year — McKenzie Gunter, so., Walla Walla
First team
Alexis Castro, so., Columbia Basin; McKenzie Gunter, so., Walla Walla; Miranda Johnson, so., Big Bend; Kamri Von Oelhoffen, so., Yakima Valley; Paige Vorwaller, so., Treasure Valley.
Second team
Sailor Liefke, fr., Walla Walla; Heidi Sellman, fr., North Idaho; Keara Simpson, fr., North Idaho; Hannah Wilson, fr., Big Bend; Koyama Young, fr., Spokane.
All-defensive team
Alexis Castro, so., Columbia Basin; Riley Denton, so., Wenatchee Valley; Leah Dougherty, so., Big Bend; Shania Graham, fr., Spokane; Alivia Williams, fr., North Idaho.