Thompson Lifts Nic To Classic Title

Earlier this season, Troy Thompson was working diligently to impress college basketball coaches.

Unfortunately, his own coach, North Idaho College’s Rolly Williams, wasn’t one of them.

A short meeting between the two ensued and Thompson’s since been in a scoring groove. He produced 20 points on Saturday night as the Cardinals coasted - doesn’t that sound familiar? - past Big Bend 100-68 to claim the inaugural Cardinal Classic championship at Christianson Gym.

Napa (Calif.) Valley, behind T.J. Elliott’s 23 points, downed Mount Royal, of Calgary, 78-64, for third place.

Thompson, who piled up 26 points in Friday’s 138-69 bludgeoning of Mount Royal, walked off with tournament most valuable player honors.

“I went in to the office and talked to coach (Williams a couple of weeks ago). I was trying to put up some big numbers so I could get some good college looks,” said Thompson, a 6-foot-4 forward whose sophomore season got off to a slow start. “Coach said, ‘Son, don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of that. You just work hard and play the game.’ That’s what I’ve done.”

NIC is 8-0 and its closest margin of victory is 22 points. That trend is likely to end soon as the Cardinals visit Big Bend in Moses Lake on Tuesday, then open Scenic West Athletic Conference action on the road at Utah Valley and Salt Lake next weekend.

The Cardinals came at Big Bend (3-1) in waves. About midway through the first half and already in front 22-11, NIC’s starting five was sitting next to Williams and the second unit quickly expanded the lead to 43-25.

“I’ve been coaching against Rolly for about eight years now and this is definitely one of his stronger clubs,” said Big Bend coach Mark Poth, whose team was outmatched inside, in part, because of the loss of 6-8 center Abdean Smith, who suffered a hand injury on Friday. He didn’t play against NIC.

“They’ve got great depth and they keep coming at you,” Poth said.

Evidence of that is the fact that two reserves, NIC guard David Cunning ham and forward Gabriel Rapier, joined Thompson on the alltournament team. They were accompanied by Big Bend’s Beau Mohondro, a scrappy 6-1 wing who scored 16 points and had 13 rebounds, Napa Valley’s Kiah Ginsberg and Mount Royal’s Troy Gedlaman.

For the second consecutive night, Cunningham was dazzling as he had eight points, three rebounds, four assists and five steals. He had one turnover in two games.

“Nice, nice player,” Poth said of Cunningham.

Rapier’s 11 points was highlighted by a pair of dunks. Eric Sanchez clogged the stat sheet with 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists and solid defense on Big Bend sharpshooter Chad Gensberg. The Cards’ two centers, Roy Kruiswyk and Kevin Byrne combined for 21 points and 15 boards, taking advantage of the absence of Big Bend’s Smith.

Thompson wasn’t completely satisfied with Saturday’s rout but he likes the way NIC is shaping up heading into conference.

“It’s unbelievable. We play terrible and you look up at the scoreboard and we’re up by 30,” he shrugged. “I was watching Kentucky (on TV) and they kind of reminded me of us. They can put in two different starting lineups.”

North Idaho 100, Big Bend 68

BIG BEND - Nicholson 1-1 0-0 2, Bull 0-3 2-2 2, Dray 1-3 0-0 2, Stenberg 6-16 3-5 18, Reuben 2-7 1-2 7, Mohondro 5-13 6-7 16, Thomas 3-3 0-0 8, Colbert 0-0 0-0 0, Turley 1-3 0-0 2, Sullivan 4-14 0-1 11. Totals 23-63 12-19 68.

NORTH IDAHO - Hall 2-7 2-2 6, Dial 1-3 0-0 2, Schultz 0-0 0-0 0, Helm 3-6 0-0 0, Cunningham 3-7 0-0 8, Stack 0-1 0-0 0, Thompson 9-21 2-4 20, Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Rapier 3-4 5-6 11, McCoy 3-7 1-2 7, Byrne 4-5 1-2 9, Robertson 3-8 0-1 6, Kruiswyk 6-10 0-0 12, Sanchez 4-7 3-4 13. Totals 41-86 14-21 100.

Half-NIC 52-30. 3-pointers-Big Bend 10-28 (Stenberg 3-10, Thomas 2-2, Sullivan 3-6, Dray 0-2, Bull 0-1, Mohondro 0-3, Reuben 2-4), NIC 4-13 (Cunningham 2-3, Sanchez 2-3, McCoy 0-3, Robertson 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Helm 0-1, Hall 0-1. Fouls-Big Bend 16, NIC 17. Technical fouls-none. Fouled out-none. Rebounds-Big Bend 31 (Mohondro 13), NIC 48 (Sanchez 9). Assists-Big Bend 19 (Dray 8), NIC 21 (Helm 5).

Hofstra 78, Eastern 68

Seth Meyers and Rob Ogden each scored 16 points to lead Hofstra to a victory over Eastern Washington for third place in the MetLife Classic in San Francisco.

The Flying Dutchmen (2-1) led 40-29 at halftime and then extended their lead to 19 with 13:25 left. Jamil Greene had 12 points and Darius Burton added 11 for Hofstra.

CC Spokane 91, Shoreline 87

Trailing by 13 points with 9 minutes remaining in the second half, the Spokane Sasquatch (2-1) went on a threepoint shooting barrage and rallied to defeat Shoreline (4-1) at SCC.

“Our defensive pressure picked up and then the shots started falling,” CCS coach Sam Brasch said.

While Shoreline’s Mark McGehee finished with 31 points and Ben Heimerman added 22, the Sasquatch countered with six players in double figures. Spokane’s Kyle York led the team with 15 points.

, DataTimes