Cardinal men win host tournament, improve to 18-0 on season

COEUR d’ALENE — It’s kind of like a broken record for the North Idaho College men’s basketball team.

Sharing the ball leads to a win.

Top scorers doing a little bit of everything to get the job done.

Same story, different night.

Braian Angola-Rodas had 16 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists and BJ Blake finished with 31 points, leading the Cardinals — ranked 13th in the latest NJCAA poll — to a 84-61 win over the Highline Thunderbirds in the championship game of the Coeur d’Alene Inn-vitational.

“We’re trying to work on our defense,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “We know we’re going to score some points. Trying to sit down and play better defense, and we did that in the first half. In the second half, they hit some shots and it was good to hold them to 21 in the first half. That’s a good team.”

NIC led 39-21 at halftime, holding Highline to 7 of 31 from the field in the first half. NIC finished with 27 assists.

“We just keep sharing the ball and we’re pretty good,” Symons said. “Having 26 assists on the night was pretty good.”

Blake, who earned MVP honors, also had three rebounds and two assists for NIC (18-0), which returns to Scenic West Athletic Conference play next Thursday, hosting Snow College at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s a blast,” Symons said. “They really buy into their success and are happy for the other guys. Braian, our leading scorer on the year, set his mind on getting rebounds and finished with 14. That’s coming from our leading scorer. If they continue to do that, we’ll be pretty good.”

HIGHLINE

Trey Edwards 1-3 0-0 3, Nick Edens 3-6 0-0 6, Sundiata Edwards 1-2 0-0 2, Coby Myles 3-7 0-0 6, Jalen McGruder 6-13 1-3 17, Ty Peacock 3-9 0-0 8, Val Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, Jared Murphy 5-17 2-4 17, Cass Matheis 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 23-59 3-7 61.

NORTH IDAHO

Sam Dowd 1-1 0-0 2, Lucas Antunez 4-8 6-6 15, Haywood Irwin 2-5 1-2 5, Trey Burch-Manning 3-4 2-3 8, BJ Blake 14-21 1-1 31, Braian Angola-Rodas 6-14 3-6 16, Kaleb Warner 1-5 0-0 2, Kyle Guice 2-7 0-0 5, Scott Turner 0-0 0-0 0, Tony Naccarato 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-65 13-18 84.

Halftime — NIC 39-21. 3-point goals — High 12-30 (Edwards 1-2, Edens 0-1, Myles 0-3, McGruder 4-9, Peacock 2-4, Murphy 5-11), NIC 5-24 (Antunez 1-3, Irwin 0-1, Burch-Manning 0-1, Blake 2-6, Angola-Rodas 1-5, Warner 0-3, Guice 1-5). Rebounds — High 33 (Edens 9), NIC 41 (Angola-Rodas 14). Assists — High 8 (Myles, McGruder, Murphy 2), NIC 26 (Angola-Rodas 10). Team fouls — High 15, NIC 12. Fouled out — none.

San Jose City 78, Miles City 62: Akil Douglas scored 24 points and finished with 12 rebounds, leading San Jose City past Miles City in the third place game.

Cole Ashby scored 16 for Miles City.

Blue Mountain 96, Grays Harbor 82: Luke Meyers had 24 points and four rebounds as Blue Mountain beat Grays Harbor in a matchup of Northwest Athletic Conference teams in the fourth place game.

Malik Redmond scored 17 points for Grays Harbor.