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North Idaho Rolls In Its Tourney Opener Cc Spokane Not As Fortunate, Falls To 0-3

Phil Hayes Correspondent

The North Idaho College men’s basketball team can boast of having a number of players with decent offensive skills.

But Friday, in first-round action of NIC’s first Thanksgiving Classic Tournament, the Cardinals showed that they can play some good defense as well - at least for a half.

A tenacious man-to-man defense led the Cardinals (5-0) to a 113-65 trouncing of Grant MacEwan Community College of Edmonton, Alberta, at Christianson Gym.

In Friday’s early game, Palomar College of San Marcos, Calif., used a second-half surge to get by a scrappy Community Colleges of Spokane team 80-73.

That sets up tonight’s championship between NIC and Palomar (3-2). Game time is 7:30.

In tonight’s consolation game at 5:30, CCS (0-3) will take on Grant MacEwan (7-4).

NIC 113, Grant MacEwan 65

The Griffins stayed with the Cardinals for 8 minutes as a Greg Tychan layin cut NIC’s lead to 14-13 with 12:03 to go in the first half.

But then the Cardinals’ athleticism and quickness took over.

In the next 9 minutes, NIC’s defensive pressure buried GMCC with a 28-2 run and by halftime, the Cardinals had built a seemingly insurmountable 52-17 lead.

“I think we just overmatched them,” NIC coach Hugh Watson said. “Our kids got after it and played very unselfishly.”

But that insurmountable lead was tested in the second half.

The Griffins welcomed NIC back after the break with a 22-6 run to get back within 19 at 58-39.

That charge was led by 5-11 guard Mark Filteau with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, in the spree.

But the Cardinals settled down and GMCC never got closer than 20.

“(NIC) is very quick and very athletic,” GMCC head coach Darren Ross said. “They play a different brand of basketball, no doubt about it. We just did not handle their defensive pressure.”

Six players scored in double figures for NIC. Bo Johnson, Chris Harrison, and Cameron Banks each had 16. Johnson also had 11 rebounds.

The Griffins were led by Filteau’s 22 points while Pat Sasseville had 17 points and 14 rebounds.

GRANT MacEWAN (7-4) - Grand 0-1 0-0 0, Oehler 0-0 0-0 0, Schneider 1-4 0-0 3, Newman 0-4 0-2 0, Hull 3-7 3-6 9, Harrington 2-4 0-0 5, Horwood 0-0 0-0 0, Filteau 9-19 0-0 22, Sasseville 7-18 3-4 17 Tychan 4-9 0-1 9, Moore 0-3 0-0 0, Birch 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-69 6-13 65.

NORTH IDAHO (5-0) - Myrick 5-11 1-2 13, Johnson 7-9 2-4 16, Myles 6-11 2-2 15, Webster 0-0 0-0 0, Rahming 1-2 0-0 2, Houston 4-6 1-2 9, McKanstry 4-9 0-0 8, Stack 3-4 0-0 6, Harrison 5-9 4-4 16, Banks 6-10 1-2 16, Bussell 1-1 0-0 2, Ryan 4-9 2-4 10. Totals 46-81 13-20 113.

Halftime - NIC 52, GMCC 17. 3-point goals - GMCC 7-16 (Schneider 1-1, Harrington 1-2, Filteau 4-10, Tychan 1-3), NIC 8-20 (Myrick 2-7, Myles 1-1, Houston 0-1, McKanstry 0-3, Harrison 2-3, Banks 3-5). Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - none. Rebounds - GMCC 35 (Sasseville 14), NIC 40 (Johnson 11). Total fouls - GMCC 20, NIC 14.

Palomar 80, Spokane 73

The Comets couldn’t pull away from the Sasquatch until late in the second half.

Palomar built leads of at least eight points on six occasions and had its biggest lead at 72-60 with 4:28 to go. But every time the Comets looked like they were going to break away, CCS battled back.

A 3-pointer by Jacob Poole and a free throw by Cory Louther in the game’s final minutes sealed the win for Palomar.

“Our kids battled real hard and kept coming back,” CCS coach Sam Brasch said. “We had some defensive lapses in the last 6 minutes and we made some freshmen mistakes, but we’re going to be fine.”

Poole led Palomar’s balanced attack with 18 points.

Randy Moffatt came off the bench to lead the Sasquatch with 16 points while John Mammenga added 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Palomar (3-2) - Brookins 0-2 2-4 2, Rodgers 0-0 0-0 0, Poole 7-12 0-1 18, Niehues 4-7 5-8 13, Louther 5-14 3-4 16, LeMonier 0-0 0-0 0, Spaulding 0-0 0-0 0, Hurnes 6-9 1-2 13, Phillips 6-8 2-5 14, Shaw 0-0 0-0 0, Blanks 2-5 0-1 4, Williams 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 30-59 13-25 80.

CCS (0-3) - Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Strahl 2-8 0-0 5, Alexander 1-3 0-2 2, Moffatt 3-10 8-10 16, Mostek 1-2 1-2 3, Ahrens 4-7 0-0 10, Day 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 2-4 0-0 4, DeBeaumont 4-13 2-3 10, Long 1-1 2-2 4, Mammenga 4-12 5-6 14, Kuntz 2-3 1-2 5. Totals 24-63 19-27 73.

Halftime score - Palomar 36, CCS 32. 3-point goals - Palomar 7-19 (Brookins 0-1, Poole 4-7, Niehues 0-2, Louther 3-9), CCS 6-17 (Strahl 1-2, Moffatt 2-7, Ahrens 2-4, DeBeaumont 0-3, Mammenga 1-2). Total fouls - Palomar 19, CCS 23. Fouled out - Ahrens, Phillips. Technical fouls - none. Rebounds - Palomar 28 (Hurnes 9), CCS 41 (Mammenga 13). Assists - Palomar 25 (Niehues 9), CCS 18 (Alexander 5).