COEUR d’ALENE — What was billed as a rematch of the 2018 Northwest Athletic Conference men’s basketball championship quickly turned into a night for the new guys at North Idaho College on Saturday.

Freshman Emmitt Taylor scored 23 points, hitting 7 of 10 from beyond the 3-point line as the Cardinals rolled past the Peninsula Pirates 98-54 in the nonconference season opener for both teams at Rolly Williams Court.

“He shoots the ball like that every day,” said NIC coach Corey Symons of Taylor, a 6-foot-4 guard from Lapwai High. “Literally, he can shoot the snot out of it. We know that it’s coming, but other teams don’t.”

Before the game, NIC celebrated its first NWAC championship, presenting players and coaches with rings from the 90-83 overtime win over Peninsula in March at Everett Community College.

Alphonso Anderson finished with 20 points and seven rebounds and RayQuan Evans, who starred in last year’s title run, had 18 points and five assists for NIC. Both Anderson, a transfer from Montana, and Evans are Utah State commits.

“We’ve got a good group,” Symons said. “We’re deep, but it’s going to be about dealing with egos. We’ve got a lot of guys that can play.”

NIC forced 13 turnovers and held Peninsula to 13-of-49 shooting from the field.

NIC, which led by as much as 47 points, went 34 of 63 from the field, hitting 9 of 21 from beyond the 3-point line.

Peninsula returned just two players off last year’s NWAC runner-up James Buckley, a starter, and Eli Sheppard, who came off the bench.

“So we’re young,” first-year Peninsula head coach and former assistant Donald Rollman said. “Our eyes were a little glossed over. We didn’t play into the championship rematch kind of stuff at all. We’ve got 10 new guys and two guys that experienced that. We know what it takes to get there. Our sophomores didn’t play particularly well tonight, but you’ve got to give credit to NIC. If you don’t execute to perfection, they’re going to take it away from you.”

NIC returns to action on Friday at the Western Wyoming Classic in Rock Springs, facing Central Wyoming.

PENINSULA

K-Lum Strickland 3-7 0-0 7, James Buckley 1-8 2-3 4, Keith Seldon 1-3 0-0 3, Davien Harris-Williams 4-12 8-9 20, Andrew Thomas 0-2 0-0 0, Eli Sheppard 1-5 2-2 4, Malik Moore 0-2 0-0 0, Kalil Glover 0-3 2-2 2, Luke Angevine 0-2 1-2 1, Erik Kelly 1-1 3-6 5, Samuel Kahapea 2-4 4-7 8. Totals 13-49 22-31 54.

NORTH IDAHO

RayQuan Evans 6-11 6-6 18, Nate Pryor 4-8 1-3 9, Emmitt Taylor 7-10 2-2 23, Phillip Malatare 2-4 2-3 6, Iain McLaughlin 1-4 0-0 3, Alphonso Anderson 8-12 3-6 20, Yusuf Mohamed 3-4 3-4 9, James Carlson 1-3 4-6 6, Jaden Dewar 0-1 0-0 0, Jarod Greene 1-3 0-0 2, Ismael Valdez 0-1 0-0 0, Drew Sheridan 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 34-63 21-30 98.

Halftime — NIC 46-17. 3-point goals — Pen 6-24 (Strickland 1-2, Buckley 0-5, Seldon 1-2, Harris-Williams 4-9, Sheppard 0-1, Glover 0-1, Angevine 0-2, Kahapea 0-2), NIC 9-21 (Evans 0-2, Pryor 0-1, Taylor 7-10, McLaughlin 1-2, Anderson 1-3, Mohamed 0-1, Carlson 0-1, Valdez 0-1). Rebounds — Pen 28 (Kahapea 5), NIC 48 (Carlson 9). Assists — Pen 4 (Strickland 3), NIC 10 (Evans 5). Team fouls — Pen 23, NIC 28. Fouled out — none.