COEUR d'ALENE - The young North Idaho Cardinal front line grew up on Saturday night, outrebounding the fifth-ranked Salt Lake Bruins 49-35 in a 74-66 win at Rolly Williams Court in Scenic West Athletic Conference play.

Kaj Sherman, a 7-foot freshman, had eight rebounds and Petar Joksimovic had seven rebounds for NIC. Michael Middlebrooks had six blocked shots for NIC.

"Both Kaj and Petar were working hard on the boards for us," NIC coach Jared Phay said. "Them and Connor (White) do all the little things to help us win."

NIC (16-1, 2-0 SWAC) led by 23 points midway through the second half, but turned the ball over 10 times in the second half, finishing with 18.

"When we're really guarding, we can be pretty good defensively," Phay said. "We had a few too many turnovers in the second half, but it was a good team effort."

"We're happy with the start (in conference), but we know it's going to get tougher and tougher," Phay said.

NIC hosts defending NJCAA champion Southern Idaho next Saturday. Both teams enter the game 2-0 in conference after the Golden Eagles beat Snow 83-63 on Saturday in Twin Falls.

"It's going to be a battle," Phay said. "Both of us did what we needed to the first week of conference. We're in the back of each other's minds right now."

Of Sherman's eight rebounds, seven were on defense.

"We came out and wanted it tonight," Sherman said. "We executed offensively well and came prepared tonight."

Middlebrooks added five points for NIC and Joksimovic had 11 points and seven rebounds.

"It was a great team effort," Joksimovic said. "We executed our game plan and played really smart. I kept telling them not to let down in the second half and play 40 minutes. I'm a veteran and a little older than those guys, but wanted to make sure they knew the game isn't over until it's over."

Darian Cartharn scored 17 points for Salt Lake (13-4, 0-2), which lost at CSI on Thursday.

"I thought North played well in the second half," Salt Lake interim coach Todd Phillips said. "They jumped on us early and put us in a big hole that was too big to get out of."

Salt Lake rallied to cut the deficit to seven points late in the second half.

"They defended us well," Phillips said. "We got some stops and the hoop started getting bigger, but typically Jared's teams are really good at defending. We couldn't score and they got some good actions and took some good shots."

SALT LAKE

Darian Cartharn 7-14 0-0 17, Davis Emery 0-1 2-2 2, Gabe Kindred 3-10 1-3 7, Jordan Bernardo 1-3 0-0 3, Stephane Manga 1-3 0-3 2, Agustin Ambrosino 2-8 1-2 6, Skyler Halford 2-11 0-1 5, Jordan Rex 3-4 0-0 6, Louis Garrett 2-7 2-3 6, Sean Carey 1-1 0-0 2, Jayson Cheesman 5-8 0-4 10. Totals 27-70 6-18 66.

NORTH IDAHO

Jordan McCloud 2-5 1-4 5, Antoine Hosley 4-11 2-4 11, Connor White 1-3 2-2 5, Kwame Bates 1-4 0-0 3, Casey Ward 0-0 0-0 0, Keon Lewis 5-7 5-6 16, Michael Middlebrooks 2-5 0-0 5, Edrico McGregor 4-7 0-0 8, Tyrell Lewis 0-1 2-4 2, Petar Joksimovic 4-7 0-0 11, Kaj Sherman 3-5 2-4 8. Totals 26-55 14-24 74.

Halftime - NIC 34-26. 3-point goals - SLCC 6-23 (Cartharn 3-6, Emery 0-1, Kindred 0-3, Bernardo 1-3, Manga 0-1, Ambrosino 1-4, Halford 1-4, Garrett 0-1), NIC 8-16 (Hosley 1-5, White 1-2, Bates 1-3, Lewis 1-1, Middlebrooks 1-1, Joksimovic 3-4). Rebounds - SLCC 35 (Ambrosino 8), NIC 49 (Sherman 8). Assists - SLCC 8 (Cartharn 5), NIC 13 (Hosley, Lewis 3). Team fouls - SLCC 21, NIC 17. Fouled out - none.