THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: A start for NIC and quite a fumble by me

It’s a start, and it’s hard to tell just where the season will go for the North Idaho College men’s basketball team.

If nothing else, those games in the NJCAA will be nothing but competitive.

THE LAST time that North Idaho College played its games in the NJCAA, the Cardinals had dudes.

Way back when in 2016, NIC advanced to the NJCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997, with a roster that was filled with eventual Division 1 guys.

Brayon (BJ) Blake went on to Idaho, Braian Angola-Rodas  to Florida State, Lucas Antunez  to Valparaiso, Kyle Guice, the former Lake City High star, to Illinois-Chicago, Trey Burch-Manning to South Dakota, Sam Dowd to Idaho State and Markus Golder to Portland State and then Valparaiso.

This time, NIC relied on sophomore forward Kyle Karstetter, who helped get the team to the finish line on Thursday. Karsetter is a transfer from Idaho State.

“Kyle, he’s an upperclassman and just knows how to play in those situations,” Symons said. “His stats don’t always show up in the box score, but he made some really smart decisions at the end of the game.”

Sophomore guard Cobi Campbell, who recently committed to Troy, and sophomore guard Austin Johnson also contributed down the stretch of the 87-85 win. Campbell also had interest from Michigan during the summer.

“Cobi and Austin played well down the stretch, which was good for us,” Symons said. “We didn’t shoot the ball that well, but had six guys in double figures and didn’t play really well.”

Then again, with that move to the more regionally-based Northwest Athletic Conference, outside of a trip to play in a tournament at San Francisco City College, the teams often didn’t travel via airplane for games.

“It was a long trip, so we’ve got to get used to that again,” Symons said. “We had to earn this one tonight. It’s easy to win when you’re playing well, but we really had to grind one out.”

Thursday’s game had 40 team fouls, with 27 charged to Pratt. Five technical fouls were also called during the game.

“It was a really aggressive game,” said Symons, whose team made 22 of 34 free throws. “If we were still in the Northwest Conference, we would have shot maybe 20 more free throws. We just had to play through some rough basketball.”

Granted, not every game that the Cardinals play in the NJCAA will see teams racking up fouls due to defense.

Maybe later, when NIC begins conference play against former Scenic West Athletic Conference rivals Salt Lake, Southern Idaho and Utah State-Eastern — among others — the style of the game might be a lot different than those of games in the NWAC, with the defense being a little better.

But I’d expect the crowds to be bigger at Rolly Williams Court when those games are going on.

There’s just something about being home when the gym is full.

SOMETIMES, YOU just have to laugh at yourself.

Leaving the 4A Inland Empire League football game between Moscow and Lakeland on Oct. 20 in Rathdrum, a game won 31-0 by the Hawks to clinch a spot in the state playoffs, I fumbled.

The credentials that I use to identify myself at games apparently went missing.

For six days.

Finally, last Thursday, Jackson Warnock, a student at Mountain View Alternative School in Rathdrum, called and told me that he’d found them.

Needing them to get into the state 4A volleyball tournament at Post Falls High, I finally tracked him down at his school and got them back.

But, not without a final tidbit.

“So, since I found them last Saturday, I went as you to a Halloween party,” Warnock laughed. “Hopefully you’re not mad and that it was OK.”

He might not have won best dressed at his party, but at least he had fun as me for a while.

Hopefully.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @JECdAPress.