NIC BASKETBALL: Cardinal men clip Pratt in first NJCAA game since 2016
• MEN
PRATT, Kan. — It wasn’t easy.
No, not even a little bit.
But for North Idaho College’s first men’s basketball game in the NJCAA since 2016, the Cardinals will take it.
Dante Sawyer, a sophomore transfer from San Francisco City College, had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals in an 87-85 win over Pratt Community College in the season opener for both schools on Thursday.
NIC, which trailed by 23-9 with 11:56 remaining in the first half, outscored Pratt 22-12 from the free-throw line.
“We did a good job of playing downhill and getting into the bonus early in the second half,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “We were really aggressive and forced the officials to call some fouls. We had to play through some rough basketball, but finished down the stretch.”
Sophomore guard Austin Johnson, a transfer from College of Southern Idaho, gave NIC the lead for good on a pair of free throws with 6:40 remaining
“It’s a new game and a new league,” Symons said. “Pratt has some big guys and we weren’t as physical as they were. We just had to grind one out. It was good to find a way to win when we should have lost.”
Freshman guard Caleb Smith had 26 points and 13 rebounds for Pratt, which finished 17-14 last year.
NORTH IDAHO
Terin Johnson 6-11 4-9 16, Cobi Campbell 2-11 6-9 11, Kyle Karstetter 1-4 0-0 3, Dante Sawyer 5-12 2-2 16, Jalen Skalskiy 5-12 3-4 13, Austin Johnson 3-10 6-8 13, Vaughn Weems 7-8 1-2 15. Totals 29-68 22-34 87.
PRATT
Caleb Smith 10-20 4-8 26, Davonte (Bubba) Russ 5-5 0-1 10, Jarrett Dingle 3-10 2-2 10, Deon McLaughlin 1-1 0-0 2, Enrique Lankford 0-2 0-0 0, Justin Robinson 3-8 2-2 8, Zaquan Jones 1-1 1-2 3, Kayvontay Williams 8-13 3-4 20, Joseph Opareke 3-4 0-1 6. Totals 34-64 12-20 85.
Halftime — Pratt 39-38. 3-point goals — NIC 7-26 (Campbell 1-5, Karstetter 1-4, Sawyer 4-6, Skalskiy 0-4, A. Johnson 1-6, Weems 0-1), Pratt 5-21 (Smith 2-6, Dingle 2-8, Lankford 0-2, Robinson 0-2, Williams 1-3). Rebounds — NIC 39 (Weems 11), Pratt 36 (Smith 13). Assists — NIC 16 (Campbell 7), Pratt 15 (Dingle 5). Team fouls — NIC 13, Pratt 27. Fouled out — Williams. Technical fouls — Weems, Sawyer, Smith, Russ, Williams.
• WOMEN
North Idaho 85
Arizona Western 65
TWIN FALLS — Kendall Pickford, a redshirt freshman from Lake City High, hit seven 3-pointers for the Cardinals, finishing with 25 points in a exhibition win over the Matadors of Yuma, Ariz., at the College of Southern Idaho.
Freshman Deniece Ryan had 14 points and eight assists for NIC, which opens the regular season today against College of Southern Idaho in a nonconference game.
NIC is returning to the Scenic West Athletic Conference in basketball-only this winter, and will rejoin the conference in all sports for the 2024-25 season.