NIC MEN'S BASKETBALL: Cardinals pull away in second half in home opener

COEUR d’ALENE — In the first half, Real Salt Lake Academy — a post-graduate squad from did every you could ask, shooting 15 of 27 and finding itself down 48-39 at halftime to host North Idaho College in the Best Western Coeur d’Alene Inn-vitational.

Following a few tweeks at halftime, the Cardinals flew away.

Sophomore Julius Mims had 16 points and nine rebounds and sophomore Taden King 20 points for the Cardinals, who shot 22 of 34 in the second half en route to a 106-64 win at Rolly Williams Court.

“They’ve got a good team and shot the ball really well in the first half,” said NIC coach Corey Symons, whose team led 7-0 early before Real Salt Lake scored its first points. “They started hitting some shots and just played really well in the first half. They got us missing some rotations and hit some shots. They’re a pretty good fundamental team and played good defense. We just did a better job of moving the ball around and getting some shots in the second half.”

Freshman Cobi Campbell scored 16 points and freshman Jeramiah Sibley 13 points for NIC (3-0), which hosts Shoreline tonight at 7:30.

Shoreline beat Motion Fire Prep 123-69 in the other tournament game at NIC on Friday.

Real Salt Lake and Motion Fire Prep will play tonight at 5:30.

REAL SALT LAKE ACADEMY

Khayleb Tua-one 1-4 0-0 3, Amari Westmoreland-Vendiola 3-10 0-0 7, Junio Higby 4-9 1-2 10, Isaiah Halverson 5-8 4-4 15, Quintan Akaka 3-6 1-2 7, Elias Akoto 0-0 0-0 0, Lincoln Prager 2-3 0-0 6, Steven Xie 5-9 0-0 12, Ben Gibbs-Rivera 1-1 0-0 2, Danilo Vukovic 0-3 2-2 2. Totals 24-53 8-10 64.

NORTH IDAHO

Julius Mims 7-10 1-1 16, Xavier Bailey 4-7 0-0 8, Cobi Campbell 5-9 3-3 16, Brendan Johnson 4-4 3-3 12, Taden King 8-2 1-1 20, Vanti Erving 4-5 0-0 9, Jeremiah Sibley 4-6 4-5 13, Michael Durkin 1-2 0-0 2, Kamryn Thomas 3-5 0-0 8, Phil Holmes 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 40-61 14-15 106.

Halftime — NIC 48-39. 3-point goals — RSL 8-19 (Tua-one 1-2, Westmoreland-Vendiola 1-2, Higby 1-3, Halverson 1-3, Prager 2-3, Xie 2-5, Vukovic 0-1), NIC 12-22 (Mims 1-2, Campbell 3-5, Johnson 1-1, King 3-7, Erving 1-1, Sibley 1-2, Durkin 0-1, Thomas 2-2, Holmes 0-1). Rebounds — RSL 20 (Halverson 5), NIC 30 (Mims 9). Assists — RSL 3 (Westmoreland-Vendiola, Prager, Xie 1), NIC 13 (Bailey 4). Team fouls — RSL 19, NIC 13. Fouled out — Tua-one.