Wednesday, February 19, 2025
10.0°F

NIC BASKETBALL: Behind honesty and grit, Cardinals getting going in Scenic West

| January 30, 2025 1:20 AM

By JASON ELLIOTT 

Sports writer 


Last Friday, just hours after suffering a setback in Rangely, Colo., to Colorado Northwestern — the program’s first loss to the Spartans since 2012 and second since 1998 — it wasn’t so much another practice that got the North Idaho College men’s basketball team back on track. 

It was just brutal honesty. 

“We got into the team room at Salt Lake and were supposed to practice from 6 to 8 p.m.,” NIC men’s basketball coach Corey Symons said. “We instead had a team meeting where we were going to ‘spill the beans’ and figure out how to get better and get stuff taken care of.” 

It was a meeting where everyone on the team spoke what was on their mind, and how to move on. 

The next day, NIC beat then-No. 24 Salt Lake 90-68 in Taylorsville, Utah in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game. 

“I told our assistant coaches that it felt like we were going into a funeral and came out like we were going to a wedding,” Symons said. “It put a little bit of new life into us in Salt Lake and led to us getting a huge win.” 

After dropping two of its first three games in conference, the NIC women were also seeking a bit of a boost after falling 71-61 at home on Jan. 9 to Salt Lake. 

Then, just as quickly, the Cardinal women turned into road warriors, winning four straight to put themselves in the mix for a top four spot in the conference and bid to the Scenic West Athletic Conference Tournament. 

“I think we’ve got a group of young ladies that have bought into getting better each game,” third-year NIC women’s coach Nathan Covill said. “We’ve made improvements on both ends of the floor and rebounding the ball a lot better. I’ve always been a defensive guy and we’ve been doing a lot better at getting stops late.” 

NIC returns home tonight to face Utah State-Eastern, starting with the women’s game at 5 p.m., followed by the men’s game at 7.

On Saturday, the Cardinals will host Snow College of Ephraim, Utah, with the women’s game at 1 p.m., followed by the men at 3. 

MEN: NIC fell 87-80 in Price, Utah, on Jan. 18.  

NIC enters tonight’s game 12-10, 2-5 in conference play. 

“Our biggest thing is keeping the buy-in and everyone engaged,” Symons said. “We keep preaching attitude and effort. Eastern, they run a matchup zone and we’ve been working on that all weekend and trying to keep them bought into the team culture and building from that.” 

Snow (20-1, 6-0) is the top-ranked team in the NJCAA.

NIC will remain home through Feb. 16, also hosting Southern Idaho, Colorado Northwestern and Salt Lake before returning to the road Feb. 22 at Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. 

“We hadn’t been getting out to good starts,” Symons said. “At CSI, Snow and all those losses, we lost them in the first five minutes. We had to change something.” 

Basically, get on the same page. 

“I told the players that everyone has a clean slate and nobody is in the doghouse,” Symons said. “We gave some chances to some guys that had been in the doghouse, and they came out and played great. Our shot selection was better, and it really paid off.” 

WOMEN: The Cardinals (13-8, 5-2) are currently third in the conference standings, with Utah State-Eastern (11-9, 3-3) fourth.  

“These kids are in the gym each morning, and it really says a lot about them,” Covill said. “I really enjoy coaching these kids. We’re telling them things in practice and they’re applying them in games and we’re seeing the benefits. 

Utah State-Eastern fell 63-60 at home to CSI, then 65-61 to NIC two days later. 

“Eastern likes to get up and down the floor really quickly,” Covill said. “They do a good job of mixing up their defenses and go from zone to man to a half-court trap and back to zone. We’ve got to be prepared, and they’ve got some quick guards. Snow has been in some dogfights lately too. We’ve got to be ready for them throwing a lot at us defensively as well.” 


    JASON ELLIOTT/Press North Idaho College freshman Summer Faleafa drives to the basket during a Jan. 9 game against Salt Lake at Rolly Williams Court. NIC hosts Utah State-Eastern tonight at 5.