NIC ROUNDUP: Cardinals advance to Boot title game against CSI

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TWIN FALLS — Freshman Braylon Haman had 22 points, four rebounds and four assists for North Idaho College in a 79-74 win over Eastern Florida State College in a semifinal game in the Battle for the Boot Invitational at the College of Southern Idaho on Friday. 

"We're playing good defense and came out pressing doing a good job on that end," said NIC coach Corey Symons, whose team led 40-25 at halftime. "I think our legs got to us a little bit in the second half." 

NIC, ranked 22nd in this week's NJCAA poll, shot 30 of 73 from the field and went 13 of 30 from the free-throw line. 

"We need to figure out our offense," Symons said. "They came out and punched us a little bit in the second half, but it was good to pull out a win." 

Sophomore Austin Ouko scored 12 of his 20 points in the first half for NIC (3-0), which faces fourth-ranked Southern Idaho (4-0) in the championship game tonight. 

"They're a really talented team," Symons said of CSI. "They shoot it well and are really fundamentally sound. We're going to try to pressure them and make it ugly and grind out another one." 

EASTERN FLORIDA STATE 

Johanes Piscikas 3-10 3-4 10, Djiby Ly 5-16 2-2 12, Jevon Yapi 6-18 2-2 18, Phil Deng 7-10 1-2 15, Khalid Ousmane 3-7 4-6 10 Nick Womack 0-4 0-0 0, Nate Moffitt 0-0 0-0 0, Lana Agbelese 2-5 3-4 7, Moses McKay 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 27-73 15-20 74. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Nyale Robinson 1-4 2-3 5, Austin Ouko 7-14 4-6 20, Gelonni Ervin 2-4 1-2 5, Braylon Haman 9-22 4-11 22, Aly Toure 1-1 0-0 2, Jayce Swanson 1-4 1-2 4, Messiah Springer 4-10 1-4 10, Cason Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Remy Albrecht 1-3 0-0 2, Gage Ontiveros 3-6 0-0 6, Logan Roos 0-1 0-2 0, Chidera Ukachukvu 1-3 0-0 3, Hunter Cordell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-73 13-30 79. 

Halftime — NIC 40-25. 3-point goals — EFSC 5-33 (Pischikas 1-7, Ly 0-5, Vapi 4-14, Womack 0-4, Agbelese 0-3), NIC 6-24 (Robinson 1-3, Ouko 2-7, Haman 0-5, Swanson 1-3, Springer 1-3, Miller 0-1, Albrecht 0-1, Ukachukvu 0-1). Rebounds — EFSC 50 (Deng 13), NIC 40 (Albrecht 10). Assists — EFSC 10 (Ly 6), NIC 13 (Robinson 5). Team fouls — EFSC 21, NIC 21. Fouled out — Ervin. 

WRESTLING

North Idaho 25

Iowa Western 10

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Colton Tucker, a sophomore from Coeur d'Alene High, got it going for the Cardinals on Friday. 

Tucker won by a 13-10 decision at 149 pounds for the Cardinals, who won five of the final six matches of the night against the Reivers. 

"There was a lot of really close matches," NIC coach Derrick Booth said. "Colton got a big win and created some momentum. Korbin (Churchran) won in double OT and both Seth (Martin) and Rade (Ostrander) went out and put the hammer down. It was what we wanted to see as a team." 

NIC competes in the Grandview Open today at the Mid-America Rec Plex in Des Moines, Iowa. 

125 — Crew Lambro, NIC, d. Jayce Curry, 2-1. 133 — Nash Hanson, IWCC, d. Dominic Bozanic, 13-8. 141 — Aleksandar Delchev, IWCC, md. Parker Ballentyne, 16-5. 149 — Colton Tucker, NIC, d. Jose Milord, 13-10. 157 — Korbin Churchran, NIC, d. Brady Danze, 3-1. 165 — Colton Theobald, NIC, d. Sam Rock, 5-2. 184 — Seth Martin, NIC, d. Grant Schwerdtfeger, 16-0. 197 — Rade Ostrander, NIC, d. Cal Wells, 22-6. 285 — Brayden Hill, IWCC, d. Brendan Hughes, 2-1.