NIC MEN'S BASKETBALL: Cardinals put Boot to McCook to open tourney in Twin Falls
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 29 minutes AGO
TWIN FALLS — The 22nd-ranked North Idaho College men’s basketball threw a lot at McCook (Neb.) Community College in their opening round game in the Battle for the Boot tournament on the campus of The College of Southern Idaho on Thursday.
As it turned out, their opponents were in the giving mood.
Freshman Braylon Haman (Lansing, Mich.) and sophomore Gage Ontiveros (Pocatello) scored 18 points each for the Cardinals, who forced 23 turnovers to beat the Indians 96-49 to advance to tonight’s semifinal round.
“We’re just playing really hard and playing that pressure defense well,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “We came out and guarded really well and took care of things on the defensive end.”
NIC (2-0) faces Eastern Florida State (4-2) today at 4 p.m. PST for a berth into the championship game. CSI and Casper play in the late semifinal.
Freshman Hunter Cordell (Pocatello) had 12 points and 11 rebounds for NIC.
“We rotated 14 guys and threw a lot of different looks at them,” Symons said. “Braylon’s really good in the open court. Throwing those different looks was really key for us.”
McCook faces Western Wyoming in a consolation game today.
MCCOOK
Justin Rushin 3-8 1-2 8, Isayah Pankey 4-11 0-0 9, Tymere Singleton 1-5 0-1 2, Adrijus Janciauskas 1-5 0-0 2, Josue Kangudi 0-5 2-4 2, Lenny Smith 3-9 1-2 9, Shane Threadgill 0-3 1-2 1, Jack Painter 1-2 0-0 3, Leo Coulibaly 2-5 0-2 4, Daniel Christou 0-2 1-2 1, Lachlan Shields 0-0 1-2 1, Soritios Plantanis 0-3 0-0 0, Owen Stack 0-4 0-0 0, Jack Fitzpatrick 1-7 3-4 6. Totals 16-69 10-21 49.
NORTH IDAHO
Nyale Robinson 3-6 3-4 9, Austin Ouko 3-9 3-5 9, Gelonni Ervin 0-0 0-0 0, Braylon Haman 6-12 6-8 18, Gage Ontiveros 7-9 4-5 18, Jayce Swanson 2-3 0-0 5, Messiah Springer 0-2 0-0 0, George Price 1-2 0-0 2, Cason Miller 1-3 0-0 3, Remy Albrecht 3-6 4-4 11, Logan Roos 0-1 0-0 0, Chidera Ukachukvu 2-6 1-1 5, Hunter Cordell 4-5 4-6 12, Aly Toure 2-4 1-3 5. Totals 34-68 26-36 96.
Halftime — NIC 43-24. 3-point goals — MCC 7-35 (Rushin 1-5, Pankey 1-4, Janciauskas 1-4, Kangudi 0-1, Smith 2-6, Threadgill 0-2, Painter 1-2, Coulibaly 0-1, Plantains 0-2, Stack 0-4, Fitzpatrick 1-4), NIC 2-19 (Robinson 0-3, Ouko 0-3, Haman 0-1, Swanson 1-2, Springer 0-1, Prince 0-1, Miller 0-2, Albrecht 1-4, Ukachukvu 0-1, Cordell 0-1). Rebounds — MCC 41 (Rushin, Smith 5), NIC 56 (Cordell 11). Assists — MCC 9 (Rushin 4), NIC 15 (Haman 6). Team fouls — MCC 23, NIC 23. Fouled out — none.