Aussies Narrowly Top Nic

It may have been one of the best losses in Rolly Williams’ 35 years as the men’s basketball coach at North Idaho College.

His club pushed the Townsville Suns to the final buzzer, losing 81-78 to the visiting pro team from Australia in a thoroughly entertaining game on Saturday night at Christianson Gym.

NIC nearly forced overtime, but Quentin Hall’s 3-pointer hit the front iron and fell off with 2 seconds remaining, ending a fierce battle that saw NIC rally from a 10-point first-half deficit and a 16-point disadvantage with 8 minutes left in the second half.

“That was a good ball game for our kids,” said Williams, whose club played without standout forward Ajene Robertson, who was disciplined for missing a practice. “You begin to get some idea how good we can be.”

About the lone downer of the evening was that only 600 fans bothered to show up. Those who were on hand saw Townsville’s 6-foot-6 post Clarence Tyson rack up 37 points and 16 rebounds, many of his buckets blunting NIC comebacks.

“Seeing as though they’re a pro team and they beat Eastern Washington by 11 (82-71 on Thursday night), it shows we can compete with good teams,” said NIC workhorse forward Gabriel Rapier, who scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds, despite standing several inches shorter than Townsville’s interior players.

The Suns, who tangle with Gonzaga at 2 p.m. today, shot 52 percent from the field and appeared poised to bury NIC early, bolting to a 14-4 lead. But NIC rallied behind Tijuan Dial’s two rainbow 3-pointers, Hall’s madcap drives to the bucket and defensive thievery, and Rapier’s blue-collar work in the paint.

NIC, which shot just 37 percent, led 28-23 and had a chance for more but Rapier clanked on a dunk - about his only mistake of the night. Tyson capitalized quickly with a dunk at the other end and the Suns moved in front at half 39-37 on Tyson’s putback.

“A lot of credit goes to those (NIC) guys, they played hard,” Tyson said. “They’re going to have a good squad this year.”

Tyson’s fluid post moves and soft-touch shots from close range helped the Suns pad their lead to 71-55.

Hall triggered NIC, slicing to the basket against the tiring Suns and either scoring or drawing fouls. His two free throws pulled the Cards to 74-72 with 3:42 to play.

Tyson again answered with consecutive hoops, but Hall’s layup narrowed the deficit to 79-78. NIC fouled Cameron Dickinson, who scored 27 points against EWU but was a non-factor against the Cards, in part because he drew a technical foul for a verbal outburst in the second half.

But Dickinson hit both shots with 7.6 seconds remaining and Hall’s 22-footer fell just short.

“I thought it (his last shot) was going to go in,” said Hall, who had 17 points and seven steals.

“We knew they are a junior-college team, but they’re always kind of tough to play, even more so than some of the NCAA teams because of their athleticism, especially if they’re well-coached,” said Townsville coach Mark Bragg. “That was fun.”

Townsville 81, North Idaho 78

TOWNSVILLE (81)-Dickinson 4-8 2-2 12, Blades 2-5 4-7 8, Froling 2-4 1-2 5, Cameron 3-5 2-2 9, Linstrom 0-2 1-2 1, Cowan 1-3 0-0 2, Mitchelhill 3-8 0-1 7, Tyson 17-26 3-4 37. Totals 32-61 13-20 81.

NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE (78)-Hall 4-10 9-9 17, Dial 3-5 3-3 11, Helm 2-7 0-0 6, Cunningham 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 3-11 0-0 7, Rapier 6-9 6-8 18, McCoy 0-7 0-0 0, Byrne 0-3 0-0 0, Kruiswyk 3-7 3-4 9, Sanchez 5-11 0-0 10. Totals 26-70 21-24 78.

Halftime-Townsville 39, NIC 37. 3-point goals- Townsville 4-11 (Dickinson 2-4, Cameron 1-2, Mitchelhill 1-3, Blades 0-2), NIC 5-21 (Helm 2-3, Thompson 1-3, Dial 2-4, Hall 0-3, McCoy 0-5, Byrne 0-1, Sanchez 0-2). Total fouls-Townsville 19, NIC 18. Fouled out-none. Technical fouls-Dickinson. Rebounds-Townsville 34 (Tyson 17), NIC 36 (Rapier 10). Assists-Townsville 26 (Linstrom 5), NIC 15 (Hall, Sanchez each had 5).

, DataTimes