Nic Defense Smothers For Ccs
In the fast and furious whirlwind that is North Idaho College basketball, the Spokane Sasquatch looked like mere dust granules caught in a wind storm Friday night.
NIC’s 94-72 win at Spokane Community College wasn’t as close as the score indicated.
“You can practice against that kind of (defensive) pressure, but you certainly can’t simulate it,” Sasquatch coach Sam Brasch said. “I was pleased with the way we battled them though.”
In moving its record to 4-0, North Idaho did so in a manner that is all too familiar to its opponents. NIC coach Roland Williams might do well to purchase track shoes for his team’s style of play.
Spokane battled North Idaho even in the first half. CCS actually led 31-27 past the halfway mark of the first half. From there, though, the Cardinals increased their defensive intensity to take a 49-36 lead at halftime and were never threatened the rest of the game.
“Up to that point we weren’t generating much offense,” Williams said. “We were just standing around and letting them get momentum. We just needed to pick up the pace.”
Early on, Spokane (0-1) stayed in the game with the outside shooting of freshman Randy Moffatt. He was 6 of 9 from the floor (3 of 6 from 3-point range) and finished the first half with 15 points. But his shooting touch was nullified when North Idaho implemented its swarming half-court defense, and Moffatt scored only four points the rest of the way.
Sophomore Troy Thompson led the Cardinals with 25 points followed by sophomore Roy Kruiswyk’s 18 and freshman Gabe Rapier’s 10.
Ten players ended up in the scoring column for North Idaho while 12 out 13 players on Friday night’s roster received playing time.
“We’re a deep team,” Williams said. “And when we play hard, we are a very good team.”
So is it hard to keep everybody happy with regards to playing time?
“Well, the way it works around here, if you don’t play hard, you’re going to be sitting next to me on the bench. We’ve got a lot of guys who can do a lot of things.”
NIC’s roster resembles that of an international squad. Williams has players from Idaho, the south, the midwest and the West Coast. He has a player from the Bahamas and another from Julianadorp, Holland.
The experience and skill level really showed against Spokane, whose farthest out-of-state player is from Columbia Falls, Mont.
North Idaho 94, CC Spokane 72
SPOKANE (72)
Moffatt 8-16 0-0 19, Ferrante 7-11 2-7 17, Hegbloom 5-10 3-4 13, Raiford 3-9 1-2 7, Gehring 2-5 3-4 7, Palmer 1-7 1-3 3, York 1-3 0-0 2, Rice 1-5 0-2 2, Schug 1-2 0-0 2, Brandon 0-1 0-0 0, Berndt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-69 10-22 72.
NORTH IDAHO (94)
Thompson 10-19 4-6 25, Kruiswyk 8-12 2-7 18, Rapier 2-2 6-8 10, Cunningham 3-5 3-3 9, Robertson 4-11 0-2 8, Sanchez 4-5 0-0 8, McCoy 1-4 4-4 6, Dial 2-5 0-0 5, Allen 1-3 0-0 3, Byrne 0-0 2-2 2, Hall 0-8 0-0 0, Helm 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-74 21-32 94.
3-Point goals-Spokane 4-14 (Moffatt 3-8, Ferrante 1-2, York 0-1, Rice 0-3), North Idaho 3-10 (Thompson 1-2, Cunningham 0-2, Sanchez 0-1, McCoy 0-2, Dial 1-1, Allen 1-2). Fouled out-Palmer. Rebounds-Spokane 32, North Idaho 38.
, DataTimes