NIC hangs on, beats E. Utah

North Idaho, down by two at halftime, took a 14-point lead in the second half before squeezing out a 63-61 Scenic West Athletic Conference men’s basketball victory over Eastern Utah on Thursday night in Coeur d’Alene.

The victory gave the Cardinals (13-1, 10-1) a half-game lead over idle Salt Lake CC at the top of the SWAC standings.

Keon Lewis came off the bench to score 17 points in just under 18 minutes on the floor. He hit 3 of 4 shots from the arc. Michael Middlebrooks added 13 points and Kaj Sherman 12 along with eight rebounds.

The Cardinals endured a 56.3 percent shooting performance by the Golden Eagles.

NIC outrebounded Eastern Utah 35-23 and scored seven more points at the free-throw line on seven more attempts.