COEUR d'ALENE - After falling behind 53-29 at halftime, the North Idaho College men's basketball team had one of those moments that could wind up defining the rest of the season in the second half.

NIC battled back to within a 12-point deficit at 79-67, but couldn't get any closer in a 96-76 loss to the 12th-ranked Southern Idaho Golden Eagles on Saturday night at Rolly Williams Court.

"We came out with a lot more fire in the second half," NIC coach Jared Phay said. "As weird as it sounds, I'm actually kind of proud of our effort. It showed that we wanted to win."

CSI shot 19 of 34 (55.9 percent) in the first half to build the lead at intermission.

Braxton Tucker and Bryce Leavitt scored 14 points each for NIC (15-4, 2-3 SWAC). Will Dorsey had 13 points, 10 coming in the second half.

"We're getting a little bit more comfortable with each other," Leavitt said. "But we just laid an egg tonight. The effort was there, but they were hitting everything and we weren't hitting anything, including me."

NIC outscored CSI 47-43 in the second half.

"I know they're disappointed and we don't like losing, but I'm really proud of them," Phay said. "I think we really grew up in the second half and that might define our season of who we are. It's easy to give up and throw the towel in, but I'm proud of them for fighting back."

Leavitt, a Washington State transfer, finished 3 of 15 from the field, but 8 of 12 from the free throw line.

"He's a good player," Phay said. "He does a little bit of everything for us out there. I think he's our leader with how hard he plays, diving for the ball into the bleachers and that kind of stuff. He's going to add some toughness and leadership for us."

"CSI just played and shot so well in the first half," Phay said. "We just had too far of a hole to dig out of."

Detwon Rogers, a 6-5 sophomore forward, had 24 points and 10 rebounds for CSI (17-2, 4-1).

"I thought we played very well in the first half," first-year CSI coach Jeremy Cox said. "We had a good week of practice, a long week of practice and got some guys back healthy for the first time all season. We're clicking on all eight cylinders and then in the second half, they made some adjustments, which good coaches like Jared are going to do and made it a little tougher for us. I'm proud of the way our guys came in and carrying their approach in practice and how it carried over into the game."

NIC closes out a five-game homestand Thursday against Colorado Northwestern at 7:30 p.m. at Rolly Williams Court.

"We've got to learn from each game," Phay said. "We'll play these teams again and just learn from it."

SOUTHERN IDAHO

Montigo Alford 6-10 2-3 15, Cullen Russo 2-4 0-2 6, Trevor Bamgartner 1-2 0-0 3, Dallas Anglin 2-4 3-4 8, James Reid 4-6 8-9 19, Charles Jackson 1-2 2-4 4, Frederick Edmond 6-5 1-2 15, Detwon Rogers 6-13 11-13 24, Kennedy Esume 1-1 0-1 2, Darnell Tillman 0-0 0-0 0, Shaquille Jones 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-58 27-38 96.

NORTH IDAHO

Jason Wheelock 0-1 0-0 0, Braxton Tucker 5-10 4-5 14, Brad Wallace 3-5 0-2 7, Bryce Leavitt 3-15 8-12 14, Nathan Rathbun 0-1 2-2 2, Will Dorsey 2-6 7-10 13, Cole Kesler 0-2 2-2 2, Fuquan Niles 1-2 1-2 3, Tatafu Nuku 3-5 0-0 6, Jordon King 4-5 5-7 13, Shikei Blake 0-2 2-8 2, Ty Higbie 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-54 31-50 76.

Halftime - CSI 53-29. 3-point goals - CSI 11-22 (Alford 1-5, Russo 2-2, Bamgartner 1-2, Anglin 1-3, Reid 3-5, Edmond 2-3, Rogers 1-2, Esume 0-1), NIC 3-15 (Wheelock 0-1, Wallace 1-3, Leavitt 0-3, Dorsey 2-6, Kesler 0-2). Rebounds - CSI 42 (Rogers 10), NIC 36 (Leavitt 9). Assists - CSI 15 (Alford 5), NIC 7 (Leavitt 5). Team fouls - CSI 31, NIC 27. Fouled out - Edmond, King. Technical fouls - NIC bench.