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

Nic Rebounds To Top Ccs Cardinals Display Too Much Talent For Spokane’s Hustling Sasquatch

The coaches took different pleasures following North Idaho College’s 97-73 men’s basketball win over host Community Colleges of Spokane Tuesday night at Spokane Falls CC.

NIC, wounded by a road loss at Eastern Utah that dropped the Cardinals out of first place in the Scenic West Conference last Saturday, got back on track for a key conference game against Ricks on Friday night.

“This ought to get us ready,” said NIC coach Hugh Watson, whose club had to deal with the loss of guard Toby Stack, who has been dismissed from the team (see related story).

“Ricks is going to be our biggest game of the year so far and we need to be focused.”For CCS coach Sam Brasch, satisfaction came in the form of perspiration expended. The outcome had been decided for roughly 15 minutes when a CCS player bellyflopped out of bounds in pursuit of a loose ball.

“I’m so proud of my kids because they played hard all the way through,” said Brasch, whose club dropped to 6-14. “We’re young, but we battled and a coach always feels good when he sees his kids play hard.”

Spokane’s effort wasn’t enough to bridge a talent gap. The Cardinals, 15-2, were much quicker, a difference that showed up on defense.

NIC’s trapping defense forced 18 first-half turnovers. At times, CCS pierced the trap for layins; more often, CCS miscues led to NIC transition baskets.

The Cardinals sprinted from a 10-7 lead to 40-21 with 5:30 remaining in the half. CCS scrapped to within 44-33 at halftime.

NIC sealed matters by holding the Sasquatch scoreless for the first 5 minutes of the second half, expanding its lead to 57-33.

“I thought our kids were just lackluster in the first half - they were more interested in shooting than shutting anybody down defensively,” said Watson. “We had a long talk about that at half and we came back and got after it.”

NIC’s Andre McKanstry scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Todd Myles contributed 10 assists and eight steals.

Spokane’s John Mammenga worked inside for 13 points. Chris Brown had 12 points and seven assists.

“We played them as tough as anyone in our league,” said Brasch. “They’ll bring the (defensive) heat. We didn’t handle it very well the first half, but we were able to get back in the game.”

NIC 97, CCS 73

North Idaho College (15-2) - Myrick 4-11 0-0 10, Johnson 2-4 5-7 9, T. Myles 3-9 0-2 7, Webster 0-2 0-0 0, Rahming 0-0 0-0 0, Houston 0-0 0-0 0, McKanstry 8-11 5-7 21, Harrison 4-12 2-3 11, Banks 3-9 0-0 7, Bussell 2-2 1-2 6, Ryan 5-6 3-4 13, L. Myles 1-7 2-4 5. Totals 35-76 19-30 97.

CCS (6-14) - Brown 4-6 1-2 12, Strahl 0-2 0-0 0, Johnston 1-3 0-1 3, Murbach 2-5 0-0 4, Mostek 2-5 0-0 5, Ahrens 2-9 2-2 8, Day 2-2 0-0 4, DeBeaumont 2-6 2-2 6, Long 3-8 3-4 9, Mammenga 4-6 5-5 13, Kuntz 4-7 1-6 9. Totals 26-59 14-22 73.

Halftime-NIC 44-33. 3-point goals-NIC 8-19 (Myrick 2-7, Harrison 1-1, T. Myles 1-1, L. Myles 1-3, Bussell 1-1, Banks 1-4, Webster 0-1), CCS 7-19 (Brown 3-4, Johnston 1-2, Mostek 1-2, Ahrens 2-7, Murbach 0-1, DeBeaumont 0-1, Strahl 0-2). Total fouls-NIC 19, CCS 21. Rebounds-NIC 33 (Johnson 8), CCS 43 (Long 9). Assists-NIC 24 (T. Myles 10), CCS 23 (Brown 7). A-250 est.

, DataTimes