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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sasquatch Stumble In Nic Tourney Opener

Phil Hayes Correspondent

It was a case of too little, too late for Community Colleges of Spokane and Grant MacEwan Community College of Edmonton, Alberta, in the first round of the North Idaho College Thanksgiving Classic men’s basketball tournament Friday night.

CCS couldn’t keep pace with Palomar of San Marcos, Calif., and fell 80-73. Grant MacEwan was submerged 113-65 by host NIC, despite outscoring the Cardinals by 16 points to start the second half.

That sets up tonight’s championship game between NIC (5-0) and Palomar (3-2) at 7:30, following the 5:30 consolation game between CCS (0-3) and Grant MacEwan (7-4).

Palomar 80, Spokane 73

The Comets couldn’t pull away from the scrappy Sasquatch until late.

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 made some freshman 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. John Mammenga added 14 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).

NIC 113, Grant MacEwan 65

The Griffins stayed with the Cardinals for all of 8 minutes when a Greg Tychan lay-in 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 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.”

NIC was tested in the second half when the Griffins opened with a 22-6 run to close to 58-39. But the Cardinals settled down and GMCC got no closer than 20.

The charge was led by 5-11 guard Mark Filteau with 13 points.

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.