Cards Have Their Say, And They’re Talking Title Shot

Last year North Idaho College held a players-only meeting the night before the Region 18 men’s basketball tournament.

Players said the usual rah-rah stuff. Then the meeting adjourned and several asked: “Which room is the party in?” NIC lost big the next day.

This year, NIC had another team meeting. Players had their say.

And the partying has been confined to on-court celebrations of two NIC victories.

The Cardinals advanced to the title game and the doorstep of the junior-college national tournament by clobbering Salt Lake 108-85 on Friday. NIC downed Ricks 74-72 on Thursday.

NIC plays tourney host and No. 5-ranked College of Southern Idaho for the championship at 7 PST tonight.

“A lot of players with experience, Steve Helm, Eddie Turner, Teodor (Russinov), talked (at the meeting),” freshman center Roy Kruiswyk said. “We discussed what we had to do to be successful. I was part of a (U-19) national championship team this summer in Canada and we had players’ meetings all the time. They help.”

Last year’s team, perhaps more talented than the current club, disintegrated toward the end of the season. One-on-one basketball became the norm and players didn’t get along off the court. For those reasons, most of the freshmen weren’t invited back by coach Rolly Williams.

The 1994-95 players have blended.

“I was working out at Ironwood (health club) before we left and someone said, ‘Good luck in the tourney, too bad you don’t have the horsepower,”’ freshman guard Jamie Snook said. “I took it in stride because he was kind of right. But intelligence and our unselfish style of play makes up for all that.

“At the beginning of the year, nobody thought we could win anything. We’ve come a long way.”

It all started with effort, said guard Eddie Turner, who sat out last season after playing two years ago. “We just said let’s play hard and play with heart.”

Said Williams: “The thing that feels good is that good things come to people who work hard. This group deserves it.”

Shuffling the Cards

Salt Lake coach Norm Parrish said NIC is a different team than the one his Bruins handled twice during the regular season.

“Their big men (Kruiswyk, Luke Palumbis) are a lot better,” Parrish said. “The big men in our league aren’t really tough this year and now NIC’s are holding their own.

“The other thing is confidence. (Troy) Thompson and (Eric) Sanchez weren’t playing with confidence earlier in the year. They are now.”

Kruiswyk’s game rebounded when he started hitting the boards.

“It’s not that the ball is going inside more, but we are crashing the boards,” he said. “That’s how we get our points.”

Well, some of interior buckets were via spoon-fed assists.

“We’re willing to give the ball up,” Williams said. “There was some great passing (against Salt Lake).”

Notes

CSI star forward Shawn Bankhead was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence after a Feb. 22 dispute where he threw down and kicked his common-law wife.

Curiously, the incident wasn’t reported locally until the opening day of the tourney.

Bankhead, who has signed with Iowa State, played in both Eagles’ wins. He and wife, Amy, and their 3-monthold baby have attended several tourney games and appeared to have made up.

Former NIC guard Derrick Elliott is enrolled at Utah Valley and plans on playing basketball for the Wolverines next season.

Ricks coach Clyde Nelson watched NIC dismantle Salt Lake and mused: “I’m sure glad we ran into North Thursday and not tonight.”