COEUR d'ALENE - It only seems like the North Idaho College men's basketball team toys with its opposition in the first half, before blowing them out in the second.

There's actually a method to the madness, NIC coach Jared Phay explaned after the Cardinals routed Green River Community College of Auburn, Wash., 109-56 in the championship game of the Bigfoot/Cardinal Classic on Sunday afternoon at Rolly Williams Court.

"It's kind of been our pattern a little bit - I think it's our depth," said Phay, after NIC improved to 11-1, and topped the 100-point mark for the third time in the last four games. "We're wearing teams out and kind of breaking them at a certain point."

Green River hung with the Cardinals early, mostly on the strength of eight 3-pointers. But NIC opened up a 43-34 halftime lead, then left the Gators behind with a 66-point second half.

NIC has length. When the Cardinals decide to full-court press, as they did early in the second half on Sunday, and they had Michael Middlebrooks and James Webb III, both 6-foot-9, out there harassing in the backcourt, as well as 6-6 forward Jordan McCloud, opposing guards almost had no chance.

With the press and transition game working, as well as simply driving past Green River defenders, NIC piled up 46 points in the first 11 minutes of the second half.

"You don't even have to be perfect when you're that long," Green River coach Tim Malroy said. "You just have to be there. And if teams try to throw it diagnally long on you, you can usually go get it."

And NIC has depth. Middlebrooks, the long-armed forward in his second year at NIC, had 15 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots - and for the second straight night, he came off the bench.

"That's what we've been preaching - they've got to be unselfish," Phay said. "Depth with selfishness is a problem, but depth with unselfishness is a championship team."

A telling play - with five minutes left in the game, and the ball bouncing innocently near midcourt, McCloud dove after the loose ball near the sideline, sliding head-first into the side of the bleachers.

NIC led by 40 at the time.

"That's what's great, is we have so much depth," said NIC guard Chris Sarbaugh, who had seven points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals, and was named the tournament MVP. "We don't take it for granted, we want to play, and we want to win the right way. The thing about having so much depth is, you have to come in and do the little things if you want to play."

Webb and Jalil Abdul-Bassit also were named to the all-tourney team from NIC. Webb had 13 points, five rebounds and two steals, and Bassit, a wing, had 18 points and five boards.

All told, six Cardinals reached double figures. Guard Mikey Hope had 17 points, guard Keon Lewis had 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals, and 7-footer Kaj Sherman had 12 ponits, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. McCloud had seven blocked shots for NIC, which totaled 23 rejections - five short of the 28 the Cardinals swatted Saturday night.

NIC outrebounded Green River 68-19.

"We've played them probably the last five years in a row and this might be the best team I've seen," Malroy said of NIC. "Just their relentlessness on the boards ... the way they crash the glass, they're getting extra possessions left and right. Even if they don't force a lot of turnovers, all that rebounding is going to serve them well."

Guard Kendal Brown hit five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points for Green River, and was named to the all-tourney team. Michael Hagerty hit three 3s and added 13 points, and Kevin McCrossin sank four 3s and finished with 12 points.

Forward Kortney Darby, who played the first two nights of the tournament but did not play vs. NIC due to injury, also made the all-tournament team.

Devon Loy, the former Coeur d'Alene High standout, had three blocked shots for Green River. It was a mini-reunion of sorts for former Viking players. Andrew Baracco, a redshirt freshman at NIC, played 10 minutes and blocked two shots. Ty Higbie, another ex-Coeur d'Alene High player, is redshirting this year at NIC.

The Gators upset Community Colleges of Spokane in the semifinals on Saturday night, dashing the expected title matchup between NIC and its rivals from the other side of the border.

How can NIC improve?

"We want to play fast; I think we need to make better decisions in transition," Phay said. "Not get caught up in playing too fast. There's areas everywhere we can improve on, but that's probably the biggest thing - we have some careless turnovers."

NIC plays at Columbia Basin College on Wednesday in Pasco, Wash.

GREEN RIVER

Emmanuel Carter 1-4 0-0 2, Nate Jones 2-4 0-1 4, Marquis Miles 2-5 4-6 8, Kendal Brown 6-19 0-0 17, Devon Loy 0-8 0-0 0, Dominique Hebert 0-2 0-0 0, Mitchell Hagerty 4-8 2-2 13, Kevin McCrossin 4-10 0-0 12. Totals 19-60 6-9 56.

NORTH IDAHO

Jordan McCloud 3-8 0-0 6, Jalil Abdul-Bassit 7-10 2-2 18, Chris Sarbaugh 3-8 0-1 7, Andrew Baracco 0-1 0-0 0, Keon Lewis 4-11 8-8 16, Mike Middlebrooks 7-13 1-2 15, Mikey Hope 6-11 4-4 17, Dalen Erickson 2-4 0-0 5, James Webb III 6-11 1-2 13, Kaj Sherman 5-7 2-3 12. Totals 43-84 18-22 109.

Halftime - NIC 109-56. 3-point goals - GRCC 12-34 (Jones 0-1, Brown 5-15, Loy 0-3, Hebert 0-1, Hagerty 3-5, McCrossin 4-9), NIC 5-17 (Abdul-Bassit 2-4, Sarbaugh 1-4, Baracco 0-1, Lewis 0-1, Hope 1-3, Erickson 1-3, Webb 0-1). Rebounds - GRCC 19 (Hagerty 5), NIC 68 (Middlebrooks 13). Assists - GRCC 9 (Carter 4), NIC 15 (Sarbaugh, Lewis 4). Fouled out - Hagerty. Total fouls - GRCC 16, NIC 14.