Mindless Play Helps Send Nic To Smarting Loss

At one point in North Idaho College’s 85-74 men’s basketball loss to College of Eastern Utah on Thursday night, NIC guard Eddie Turner asked coach Rolly Williams if the Cardinals could switch to a man-to-man defense.

“Eddie,” Williams said, “that’s what we’re in.”

Get the feeling it wasn’t NIC’s night?

No matter what defense NIC attempted - man, zone, zone trap, matador - it did little to deter 6-foot-3 CEU forward Kenneth Pratt, who moved from wing to the interior due to forward Rosell Ellis’ one-game suspension.

Pratt scored a bundle of buckets by muscling Cardinals in the lane. He finished with 33 points, 21 in the second half. Pratt, who had 17 rebounds, scored 12 straight points as CEU enlarged a 71-64 lead with 4:35 remaining to a cozy 83-71 advantage.

“I saw something tonight that maybe I’ll try something different next week,” said CEU coach Ronnie Stubbs, who said Pratt has lost 20 pounds since the start of the season to check in at 220. “Maybe I’ll make a change to get Pratt on the block more.”

That would seem logical. Ellis usually operates down low, but CEU didn’t seem to miss his 18-point, 13-rebound averages. Ellis and reserve Lovell Brown skipped a practice earlier this week to draw suspenions.

NIC didn’t have an excuse for its absent-minded play. Some examples:

Numerous times NIC would grab a rebound only to be stripped of the ball by quick-handed Eagles.

NIC’s Teodor Russinov, who had 15 points, once stole the ball but lost control as he attempted an uncontested layup.

The Cards left Pratt uncovered on an inbounds pass. He scored an easy layup.

“What’s really frustrating is I feel like we’re making progress - we played really well at Southern Idaho and Treasure Valley last week - and then we come out here and play the first half like we’re scared to death,” Williams said.

“All we had to do was play hard and be aggressive, but they just outplayed us,” said Turner, who scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half. “In practice, we play hard. In games, it’s a whole different thing.”

NIC, led by Troy Thompson’s 25 points, slipped to 4-8 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, 12-12 overall. Colorado Northwestern visits NIC’s Christianson Gym on Saturday night. CEU (20-3 overall) is 9-2, tied with Southern Idaho for first place.

CEU racked up 11 steals. Catquick guard Alexander Morris, who checks in at 5-foot-6 and 135 pounds, thanks to his oversized jersey, had three steals, five assists and 12 points.

Wings Alton Bendinger and Bryan Christiansen combined for 29 points.

CEU hit 52 percent of its shots, NIC just 41.

“We’re such a scoring machine; that’s where we get people,” Williams said sarcastically. “Our defense was crappy. I mean, it’s pretty tough to figure out that 12 times in a row they throw it into Pratt and he gets a basket.”

Stubbs registered only his second win in eight trips to NIC.

“We played very well,” Stubbs said.”We can be as good as we want to be.”

Eastern Utah 85, NIC 74

EASTERN UTAH

Morris 5-12 2-2 12, Salim 1-6 3-4 6, Jeffords 0-0 0-0 0, Bendinger 7-11 0-0 15, Christansen 5-10 1-2 14, Buchmiller 0-1 0-0 0, Pratt 14-19 5-10 33, Norey 0-0 1-2 1, Washington 2-6 0-0 4. Totals - 34-65 12-20 85.

NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE

Dial 0-3 2-2 2, Schultz 0-0 0-0 0, Helm 3-5 0-0 6, Snook 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 12-21 0-0 25, Turner 8-16 3-3 23, Russinov 7-17 1-2 15, Sanchez 0-1 0-0 0, Hegbloom 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Palumbis 1-9 1-2 3, Kruiswyk 0-3 0-2 0, Beall 0-0 0-0 0. Totals - 31-75 7-11 74.

Halftime - CEU 36, NIC 31. 3-point goals - CEU 5-16 (Morris 0-4, Salim 1-2, Bendinger 1-4, Christansen 3-6). NIC 5-16 (Dial 0-3, Thompson 1-4, Turner 4-8, Russinov 0-1). Total Fouls - CEU 12, NIC 17. Fouled Out - none. Rebounds - CEU 35 (Pratt 17), NIC 38 (Palumbis, Thompson 9). Assists - CEU 25 (Bendinger 8), NIC 23 (Turner 6).