Rivalry renewed at Rolly

COEUR d’ALENE — In the first of two border battles between the Community Colleges of Spokane and North Idaho College, it was the home team that defended its floor with a passion on Wednesday night.

Nate Pryor scored 23 points for the Cardinals in an 85-68 win over the Sasquatch in men’s action, limiting Spokane to 26 of 66 shooting

“The Columbia Basin game, we tried to used our athleticism and press them,” said NIC men’s basketball coach Corey Symons, whose team beat Columbia Basin 96-87 on Monday. “We had a 20-plus lead, and kind of relaxed a little bit. When we play defense, and Spokane is a really good team, to keep them to 68 points, that’s a really good job.”

Christian Guess, a transfer from Missouri had 14 points and nine rebounds for NIC (19-1, 8-0 NWAC), which finished 33 of 78 from the field.

“The tough thing is we’re just long and athletic,” Symons said. “If you look at our size, we’re just as big as some Division I schools. When our guys buy into sitting down and playing defense, it’s hard to score on us. We’re scoring 60 to 70 percent of our points in transition and tonight they decided to guard from the start.”

In the women’s game, Anna Schrade scored 14 points to lead the Cardinals (11-7, 5-2 NWAC) past the Sasquatch (6-5, 3-5).

“We gave up three 3’s in the first two minutes,” NIC women’s basketball coach Chris Carlson said. “Once we got them out of that zone, we played pretty well defensively. Our guards were really balanced scoring and rebounding tonight.

NIC outscored Spokane 18-9 in the final quarter to pull away.

Both NIC teams return to action on Saturday at Yakima Valley.

MEN: Pryor added nine assists and 11 rebounds for NIC in the win.

“We’ve got a lot of guys, and we’re so deep,” Symons said. “The biggest thing is each night it can be a different person, and having guys buy into what we’re doing. Christian has been killing it for us, and tonight Nate just took over tonight. We’ve got so many good players, it’s just about staying together.”

Garrett White, the North Idaho Christian product, was limited to 10 points and 10 rebounds for Spokane.

“The tough thing is that the kid from North Idaho Christian — Garrett White — is a really good player,” Symons said. “He can score it and shoot it. And that’s the benefit of having Joey Naccarato because you can say go guard that guy, and he’ll do it. They run a lot of good stuff and good shooters, and we just had to sit down and play good defense.”

With NIC leading 16-14 in the first half, the Cardinals used a 14-0 run to pull away.

“Give North Idaho credit,” Spokane coach Jeremy Groth said. “We were trying to get them to shoot jump shots and they hit a few shots. They shot the ball really well, and we didn’t shoot the ball very well when we normally do.”

Jaron Williams had 21 points for Spokane (17-4, 7-1).

They’re a different level athletically,” Groth said. “They’re good, and they did a good job and competed really hard. I thought our guys were focused and locked in, but that’s a different team than we’ve faced all year. Nobody will present the same kids of challenges as they do that we’ll play the rest of the season.”

COMMUNITY COLLEGES OF SPOKANE

Jaron Williams 9-16 2-2 21, Kaeleb Johnson 3-7 2-2 10, Kobe Reese 3-4 2-2 8, Jamal Alstrom 2-5 0-1 4, Garrett White 2-12 6-6 10, Austin White 2-8 0-0 4, Kain Mack 0-3 0-0 0, Jaelon Stith 3-5 0-0 7, Josiah Haaland 2-6 0-3 4. Totals 26-66 12-16 68.

NORTH IDAHO

Christian Guess 6-14 1-3 14, Nate Pryor 9-18 4-4 23, Phillip Malatare 2-4 0-0 4, James Carlson 3-7 1-1 7, Joey Naccarato 2-8 0-0 4, Emmit Taylor III 5-13 0-0 14, Yusuf Mohamed 3-7 2-2 10, Marcus Austin 0-1 0-0 0, Ismael Valdez 0-0 0-0 0, Jaden Dewar 3-6 2-2 9. Totals 33-78 10-12 85.

Halftime — NIC 46-30. 3-point goals — CCS 4-23 (Williams 1-3, Johnson 2-5, White 0-6, Mack 0-2, Stith 1-2, Haaland 0-1), NIC 9-25 (Guess 1-3, Pryor 1-4, Carlson 0-1, aylor III 4-11, Mohamed 2-3, Austin 0-1, Dewar 1-2). Rebounds — CCS (Haaland 10), NIC 52 (Pryor 11). Assists — CCS 5 (five with 1), NIC 14 (Pryor 9). Team fouls — CCS 11, NIC 21. Fouled out — Naccarato.

WOMEN: Demi Randall had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinals, who outrebounded the Sasquatch 43-29.

Alex Carlton had 11 points and eight rebounds and Halle Eborall 11 points and six rebounds for NIC, which has won four straight games.

“We’ve kind of went to more of a guard game,” Carlson said. “Since coming to the NWAC, it’s a guard league. We’re starting to hit a rhythm with it. Demi really hit her stride tonight and was really hitting the boards. It was a good team win.”

Koyama Young and Katlyn Ostrowski scored 11 points each for Spokane (6-5, 3-5).

COMMUNITY COLLEGES OF SPOKANE

Koyama Young 4-10 0-0 11, Dejah Wilson 2-7 1-2 5, Katlyn Ostrowski 3-7 4-4 11, Faith Adams 2-5 0-0 5, Willow Risinger 1-6 0-0 2, Shelby Lange 1-4 0-0 3, Makenna Grier 0-0 0-0 0, Tori Ivins 2-4 0-0 5, Lexi Cook 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 16-46 5-6 44.

NORTH IDAHO

Sydnie Peterson 1-8 1-2 4, Demi Randall 4-7 3-4 12, Anna Schrade 5-12 1-2 14, Halle Eborall 3-10 4-4 11, Alex Carlton 3-11 5-6 11, Brooke Stevens 0-0 0-0 0, Rilee Mangun 0-4 0-0 0, Cheyenne Green 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 17-56 14-18 54.

Spokane 13 13 9 9 — 44

North Idaho 12 13 11 18 — 54

3-point goals — CCS 7-17 (Young 3-5, Wilson 0-2, Ostrowski 1-3, Adams 1-2, Lange 1-2, Ivins 1-2), NIC 6-20 (Peterson 1-5, Randall 1-1, Schrade 3-5, Eborall 1-3, Carlton 0-4, Green 0-2). Rebounds — CCS 29 (Ivins 7), NIC 43 (Randall 9). Assists — CCS 9 (Young, Adams 3), NIC 6 (Eborall, Carlton 2). Team fouls — CCS 17, NIC 14. Fouled out — none.