Former Coeur d’Alene High standout Naccarato commits to Division II Fort Lewis in Colorado

It was by chance that Joey Naccarato ended up at North Idaho College to begin with.

The former Coeur d’Alene High star had played one season, and had just completed a redshirt season, at NCAA Division I Massachusetts-Lowell after tearing his pectoral muscle and was looking to get stronger and start over.

Finally healthy, Naccarato, a 6-foot-5 guard, got back on the basketball court at North Idaho College.

Naccarato started 23 of 24 games he appeared in this season, averaging 9.5 points and six rebounds per game for NIC, which finished 28-1. Naccarato missed the final six games of the season with a high ankle sprain.

“It was my junior year academically, so coming in as a third-year college kid, it kind of taught me to be a leader,” Naccarato said of his one season at NIC. “I knew I had to set an example for the other guys, and it was fun group to be around. I learned a lot this year.”

While Naccarato was in the lineup, NIC cruised in league play, going 16-0. With Naccarato, NIC’s closest win was a 96-87 win on Jan. 20 at Columbia Basin of Pasco, Wash. Without Naccarato, NIC had a one-point win at Wenatchee Valley (79-78 on Feb. 12) and a 103-100 overtime win at Spokane on Feb. 19.

“He just continues to grow every day,” NIC men’s basketball coach Corey Symons said. “Being a D-I transfer, he stepped into a big leadership spot right away. You could just tell in those games he was hurt, they were close games. You could just tell when he wasn’t on the court because our team was a little different.”

His play caught the eye of Division II Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., where the coaches watched some film on Naccarato.

“Both Corey and Coach G (George Swanson) do a great job of sharing video on Synergy,” Naccarato said. “The coaches at Fort Lewis watched some film and offered me a few months ago.”

With holds on recruiting visits due to the coronavirus pandemic, Naccarato was unable to take a visit to the school, where he committed to on Tuesday. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

“It was kind of a struggle with a lot of my teammates as well,” Naccarato said. “We didn’t have much time after the season to take any visits. Some other guys were planning to take visits before things got shut down. At a certain point, you’ve got to make a decision on where you’re going next. It’s kind of a leap of faith, but also the recruiting had been slowing down a little bit, so it was an offer that I didn’t want to pass up.”

The NCAA shut down recruiting at all levels on March 13 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Naccarato also received interest from Division II schools California State San Marcos and Azusa Pacific in California.

Naccarato joins Nate Pryor (Washington), Yusuf Mohamed (Tennessee State), Emmit Taylor III and James Carlson (Idaho State) as Cardinals moving on to the next level.

“I was planning on going on some other visits,” Naccarato said. “I was lucky to get some visits in when I did, or it could have went bad. As soon as this whole virus thing picked up, we were all kind of stuck and schools weren’t recruiting as much, so we just had to take what we already had.”

At Fort Lewis, Naccarato added he could play anywhere from a shooting guard to small forward.

“It’s a beautiful campus from what I’ve seen online,” Naccarato said. “There’s a lot of do in the outdoors and it seems just like Coeur d’Alene.”

“Fort Lewis has been recruiting him really hard,” Symons said. “It’s a great fit for him. They’ve put a lot of time and effort into getting Joey, and he’s their No. 1 recruit. And that’s a good thing for him. You always want to go where you’re wanted.”