• WRESTLING

ROSEBURG, Ore. — After a month waiting, the energy was noticeable to North Idaho College interim wrestling coach Chase Clasen on Saturday.

“I think we were just excited to wrestle again,” said Clasen, whose team hadn’t wrestled since the National Duals on Jan. 14 in Miami, Okla. “The guys were itching to get back after it.”

NIC, behind district champions in freshman Jett Strickenberger (125 pounds), sophomore Ledger Petracek (165) and sophomore Navarro Nanpuya (174), finished second at the West District Championships at Umpqua Community College, but qualified all 10 wrestlers to nationals March 4-5 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Freshman Sam Silveria (second at 141), freshman Alphonso Martinez (second at 157), freshman Hunter Suter (second at 197), sophomore Cohle Feliciano (second at 285), sophomore Brant Porter (third at 133), sophomore Brandon Bollinger (third at 149) and redshirt freshman Devin Winston (184) all advanced for NIC.

Porter, Bollinger and Winston all received wild-card berths to nationals. Winston was injured in the second-place match.

“It’s a tough tournament,” Clasen said. “This district is super talented with three teams ranked in the top seven in the nation. It’s tough getting out of here, but getting all 10 is a big deal. We just kept telling our guys to come back and get the next best thing. The guys really had to dig deep and take some lumps, but our guys fought. We’re proud of them as a coaching staff.”

Clackamas, of Oregon City, Ore., won its eighth straight regional title with 116 points. Clackamas is ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA.

The event was canceled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. NIC last won a regional title in 2013, the same year as the Cardinals previous NJCAA title.

“If we can get 10 All-Americans, we’ll be in good shape,” Clasen said. “And this team is very capable of doing that. It’s good for us and our team morale to get everyone back to nationals. The guys have practiced hard, want to win together and go get a national title.”

TEAM SCORES — 1, Clackamas 116. 2, North Idaho 93.5. 3, Southwestern Oregon 64. 4, Umpqua 24.

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES

125 — Jett Strickenberger, NIC, d. Nicolas Aguilar, Clackamas, 5-3. 133 — Justin Mejia, Clackamas, p. Jovan Garcia, Southwestern Oregon, 1:09. 141 — Marckis Branford, Clackamas, p. Sam Silveria, NIC, 5:49. 149 — Victor Jancinto, Clackamas, d. Nick Moore, Southwestern Oregon, 6-0. 157 — Alex Ramirez, Clackmas, d. Alfonso Martinez, NIC, 4-3. 165 — Ledger Petracek, NIC, d. Steele Starren, Clackamas, 5-3. 174 — Navarro Nanpuya, NIC, d. Trent Silva, Clackamas, by injury default. 184 — Jr. Scott, Southwestern Oregon, p. Devin Winston, NIC, 1:10. 197 — Michael Gasper, Clackamas, d. Hunter Suter, NIC, 11-7. 285 — Kyle Richards, Clackamas, d. Cohle Feliciano, NIC, 7-5.

SECOND-PLACE MATCHES

125 — Aguilar, Clackamas, d. Joey Thompson, Southwestern Oregon, no challenge. 133 — Garcia, Southwestern Oregon, d. Brant Porter, NIC, no challenge. 141 — Silveria, NIC, p. Freddy Barajas, Southwestern Oregon, 1:18. 149 — Moore, Southwestern Oregon, d. Brandon Bollinger, NIC, no challenge. 157 — Martinez, NIC, d. Jett Nelson, Southwestern Oregon, no challenge. 165 — Starren, Clackmas, d. Archer Bergeron, Umpqua, 7-3. 174 — Silva, Clackamas, d. Jaycen Crisotomo, Southwestern Oregon, no challenge. 184 — Romeo Manue, Clackamas, d. Devin Winston, NIC, by injury default. 197 — Suter, NIC, d. Cameron Bauman, Southwestern Oregon, no challenge. 285 — Feliciano, NIC, p. Jayden Dobson, Southwestern Oregon, :18.

THIRD-PLACE MATCHES

125 — Thompson, Southwestern Oregon, md. Tanner Ulrey, Umpqua, 12-3. 133 — Porter, NIC, p. Dale Wells, Umpqua, 1:16. 141 — Barajas, Southwestern Oregon, d. Enrique Jaime, Umpqua, 8-1. 149 — Bollinger, NIC, p. Samuel Balderston, Umpqua, 2:45. 157 — Nelson, Southwestern Oregon, d. Max Barnett, Umpqua, medical forfeit. 165 — Bergeron, Umpqua, p. Juan Escobar, Southwestern Oregon, 3:00. 174 — Crisotomo, Southwestern Oregon, d. Austin Vanhouten, Umpqua, 10-5. 184 — Manue, Clackamas, tf. Landen Chung, Umpqua, 18-0. 197 — Bauman, Southwestern Oregon, p. Caleb Brickey, Umpqua, :36. 285 — Dobson, Southwestern Oregon, d. Connor O’Bryan, Umpqua, 4-0.

• MEN’S BASKETBALL

North Idaho 95

Blue Mountain 71

COEUR d’ALENE — Once the Cardinals got going, and it took a little work out of their control, things moved in the right direction.

Freshman Taden King scored 19 points for the Cardinals in an Northwest Athletic Conference win over the Timberwolves at Rolly Williams Court.

The game was delayed nearly 20 minutes after the scheduled officials never showed to a miscommunication, according to NIC coach Corey Symons.

Two refs who worked the women’s game stayed to do the men’s game, and another local ref in town was beckoned to make it three.

“It was a little chaotic at first,” Symons said. “But we settled in and played some good basketball.”

Blue Mountain’s Chad Napoleon, who leads the conference in scoring at 24.9 points per game, was limited to 13 points. He was primarily defended by freshman Jalen Skalskiy, who played at Lakeland High.

“He’s a really strong post, so we put Jalen on him and made it his job to defend him,” Symons said. “Jalen did a really good job and kept him out of the game.”

Sophomore Julius Mims had 11 points and 10 rebounds, sophomore Daniel Santana scored 12 points, Skalskiy 11 points, sophomore Cooper DeWitt 10 points and freshman Xavier Bailey 14 points for NIC (14-6, 8-1 NWAC), which travels to Walla Walla on Saturday.

Jacob Holling scored 12 points for Blue Mountain (5-13, 2-7).

BLUE MOUNTAIN

Jacob Holling 4-7 0-0 12, Byron Patt 3-5 1-2 9, AJ Floyd 2-4 0-0 4, Kash Lang 1-7 3-3 5, Chad Napoleon 5-15 2-3 13, Andrew Lyford 1-1 0-0 2, Casey Wright 2-4 0-0 4, Sam Patterson 0-0 0-0 0, Kyan Thompson 1-4 0-0 3, Dawson Durham 0-0 0-0 0, Keaston Young 2-5 0-0 5, Shea Traudt 0-0 0-0 0, Keegan Glenn 5-8 1-1 14. Totals 26-60 7-9 71.

NORTH IDAHO

Julius Mims 5-12 0-0 11, Daniel Santana 5-7 2-2 12, Cooper DeWitt 4-9 1-1 10, Taden King 8-15 0-0 19, Jalen Skalskiy 5-8 0-0 11, Aaron VonBruck 0-1 0-0 0, Brendan Johnson 3-4 0-0 6, Jack Kiesbuy 0-2 0-1 0, Trae Hugs 0-0 0-0 0, Xavier Bailey 6-9 1-1 14, Gavin Gilstrap 3-4 4-5 10, Akeyse Rice 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 40-72 8-10 95.

Halftime — NIC 52-30. 3-point goals — BMCC 12-22 (Holling 4-5, Patt 2-3, Lang 0-2, Napoleon 1-2, Thompson 1-2, Young 1-2, Glenn 3-6), NIC 7-22 (Mims 1-3, Santana 0-1, DeWitt 1-4, King 3-8, Skalskiy 1-3, Kiesbuy 0-2, Bailey 1-1). Rebounds — BMCC 35 (Floyd, Napoleon 8), NIC 35 (Mims 10). Assists — BMCC 6 (Patt 3), NIC 13 (Santana 4). Team fouls — BMCC 17, NIC 14. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — Napoleon.

• WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

North Idaho 66

Blue Mountain 63

COEUR d’ALENE — Sophomore Kolby Pimperton gave the Cardinals the lead for good with a pair of free throws with 38 seconds remaining in a Northwest Athletic Conference win over the Timberwolves at Rolly Williams Court.

Jaelyn Brainard, a freshman from Coeur d’Alene High, hit a jumper to give Blue Mountain a 63-62 lead with 1:18 remaining. Pimperton, who finished with 15 points, answered from the line to give NIC a 64-63 lead. Blue Mountain missed a go-ahead jumper with 27 seconds remaining and Paige Beem hit two more free throws with 23 seconds left.

“Kolby is a great player and takes our offense and runs with it,” NIC coach Korina Baker said. “It’s great to have her. She’s really stepped up and she’s been really clutch for us.”

NIC (11-6, 6-3 NWAC) travels to Walla Walla on Saturday.

Jaden Chavez, a freshman from Coeur d’Alene, as well as Hannah Schvaneveldt scored 17 points each for Blue Mountain (10-9, 4-5).

BLUE MOUNTAIN

McKeeley Tonkin 1-6 1-4 3, Hannah Schvaneveldt 10-14 2-4 17, Jaelyn Brainard 2-8 0-2 4, Jaden Chavez 6-8 5-7 17, Ellie Acord 1-5 2-2 4, Brianna Kohr 0-2 0-0 0, Jayden Benson 0-0 0-0 0, Nane Lokotui 4-5 1-2 11. Totals 24-48 11-21 63.

NORTH IDAHO

Laney Smith 4-9 1-2 12, Catherine Uschmann 2-7 4-4 9, Paige Beem 1-1 2-2 4, Maggie Graves 4-5 0-1 8, Kolby Pimperton 4-12 5-6 15, Payton Hagy 2-5 2-2 8, Kaylee Banks 0-2 2-2 2, Ashlynn Shanley 0-0 0-0 0, Layla Beam 1-3 0-0 2, Mary Mpoyo 1-4 4-6 6, Xuriyah Harry 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 20-25 66.

Blue Mountain 17 22 9 15 — 63

North Idaho 15 16 27 8 — 66

3-point goals — BMCC 4-15 (Tonkin 0-5, Schvaneveldt 2-4, Brainard 0-1, Chavez 0-2, Kohr 0-1, Lokotui 2-2), NIC 8-20 (Smith 3-4, Uschmann 1-4, Pimperton 2-7, Hagy 2-5). Rebounds — BMCC 28 (Schvaneveldt 7), NIC 30 (Graves 8). Assists — BMCC 1 (Brainard 1), NIC 4 (four with 4). Total fouls — BMCC 24, NIC 21. Fouled out — Brainard, Acord.