Hill makes it official,

signs with Idaho hoops

MOSCOW - Post Falls High senior guard Connor Hill has followed up on his verbal commitment last Saturday by signing a letter of intent with the University of Idaho men's basketball team.

Hill, a 6-2, 180-pound guard, helped lead Post Falls to a 23-5 record and fourth-place finish at the state 5A tournament this year, and was named Idaho 5A Player of the Year after averaging 21.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.

Hill scored 1,192 career points for the Trojans, the second most in school history, and set a school record with 69 total victories during his career. In 2010 as a junior, he helped Post Falls end a 46-year championship drought as the Trojans claimed the Idaho 5A title.

"Connor is a tremendous young man and a terrific basketball player. This is a win-win in a lot of different ways," Idaho coach Don Verlin said. "His ability to score and shoot the 3 fits perfectly into our system, and his attitude tells me that he will only get better during his Vandal career."

Hill also had an offer to attend Washington State as a preferred walk-on.

Idaho also signed guard Mansa Habeeb, a 6-3, 210-pound guard who will join Idaho as a junior in the fall. He played for two seasons at Southeastern Iowa Community College, which he helped lead to the NJCAA semifinals and a fourth-place national finish this season.

Habeeb averaged 12.8 points on 51.3 percent shooting, as well as 5.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals for the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Division I champions. He was honored individually as an ICCAC DI first-team all-region pick.

"Mansa is a terrific young man who brings the character and toughness we look for in a player," Verlin said. "He's a great all-around player who does all the little things to make his team succeed, and he also brings the experience of playing in two national tournaments for one of the top junior colleges in the country."

Hill and Habeeb joined a recruiting class that already includes junior-college signees Wendell Faines of Saddleback (Calif.) JC and Anthony Jones of Paris (Texas) JC, along with high school signee Xavier Bazile of Tacoma, Wash. (Mt. Tahoma HS).

NIC men's soccer coach

Moorcroft resigns

COEUR d'ALENE - The North Idaho College athletic department announced that head men's soccer coach Scott Moorcroft has submitted his resignation for personal reasons.

Moorcroft guided the Cardinals to four consecutive Scenic West Athletic Conference championships and earned Region 18 Coach of the Year honors in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Moorcroft will be stepping down as head coach at the end of the school year to pursue further graduate studies and a college teaching career at Boise State University in the departments of kinesiology and education, while his wife also takes on a new position at St. Luke's Hospital in Boise.

The search for a replacement will begin immediately and the posting for the position will be available through the NIC Human Resources website at www.nic.edu/hr on April 22.

Hogan, Crimp to be inducted

into NIC Athletics Hall of Fame

COEUR d'ALENE - Les Hogan, who coached North Idaho College to its first NJCAA wrestling championship, and Greg Crimp, who coached the NIC women's basketball team for 21 seasons over two stints, have been selected for induction into the third class of NIC's Athletics Hall of Fame.

Hogan and Crimp will be honored in conjunction with the annual Athletics Awards Banquet and Auction, scheduled for May 7 at the NIC Edminster Student Union Building.

Hogan assumed the reins of a start-up wrestling program at NIC in 1971 and immediately developed it into one of the most respected wrestling programs in the country. In his first year as head coach, Hogan guided the Cardinals to 5th in the nation at the NJCAA tournament. Two years later Hogan led NIC to its first national championship, and he repeated the feat in 1975. The NJCAA honored Hogan as the national wrestling coach of the year in 1975. He finished his career with a dual record of 95-4.

Crimp is the all-time leader in career wins at NIC with a record of 368-194. Crimp was selected Region 18 Coach of the Year five times and took the Cardinals to the NJCAA tournament 5 times. Crimp previously held the record for highest national finish for NIC women's basketball with his sixth-place finish in 1997, until the Cardinals won the title this season.

The complete event schedule is as follows: 5:30 p.m., social and silent auction; 6:30, dinner; 7, live auction; 7:30, athletic awards; 8, Hall of Fame induction.

Tickets for the induction ceremony and athletic awards dinner are available for $30, and can be purchased at the NIC athletic department office.

Information: 769-3348, www.nic.edu/athletics

NIC wraps up home softball

schedule this weekend

COEUR d'ALENE - North Idaho College concludes its brief home schedule this weekend, hosting Western Nevada in doubleheaders today at 1 p.m. and Saturday at noon at Memorial Field.

NIC (25-21, 18-17 Scenic West Athletic Conference) is in fourth place in the conference. Western Nevada (6-25, 6-25) is sixth.

Salt Lake (38-6, 30-2), ranked second in the NJCAA, leads the SWAC, followed by No. 11 Southern Idaho (31-13, 25-6), Southern Nevada (25-21, 18-14), NIC, Snow (14-16, 14-16), Western Nevada and Colorado Northwestern (2-39, 2-33).

NIC travels to Southern Idaho next weekend and Colorado Northwestern the following weekend to conclude regular season play.

Thompson's father says Klay

likely to declare for draft

Washington State's Klay Thompson is leaning toward entering the NBA draft this year.

The father of the Pac-10's leading scorer last season says Thompson won't hire an agent right away, so he could still decide to come back to school for his senior year.

The deadline for declaring for the draft is April 24.

Mychal Thompson, a former NBA player and now a broadcaster for the Los Angeles Lakers, said his information indicates most teams consider Klay a first-round pick.