Nic Runs To Win Cards Use Quickness To Beat Utah Valley

Too much quickness, pace too fast.

For Utah Valley, that is. North Idaho College, on the other hand, relishes on-court chaos. The Cardinals introduced another taller opponent to their helter-skelter style on Friday night, topping Utah Valley 95-84 in the men’s Region 18 Tournament semifinals before a sellout crowd of nearly 1,500 at Christianson Gym.

“We couldn’t match up with their big guys,” NIC coach Hugh Watson said. “We had to keep it up-tempo.”

Second-seeded NIC (26-4) moved into the championship game tonight at 7 against No. 1 College of Eastern Utah (28-4), a 68-65 winner over Ricks. The winner advances to the national tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.

“It’s going to be talent against talent,” summarized NIC guard Shawn Myrick, who led the Cards with 21 points. The teams split two regular-season games.

North Idaho 95, Utah Valley 84

The first positive indicator for NIC was Myrick’s 3-pointer 90 seconds into the game. Watson had extra oomph on his sideline fist wave, knowing a quick start could aid Myrick, a streaky shooter.

“Coach just told me to get my shots,” said Myrick, atoning for an off shooting night in Wednesday’s opening round. “The whole team set great screens.”

The Wolverines tried jamming the ball inside to 6-foot-7 Silester Rivers and 6-10 Leif Nelson. It worked, at times, as Rivers had eight points in the first half. As the game wore on, NIC sagged off Utah Valley’s big men, tempting them to take 12-foot jumpers.

The Wolverines (24-8) rarely converted.

NIC led most of the first half, extending the margin to six at intermission on Chris Harrison’s three-point play.

Utah Valley’s zone defense forced NIC to operate on the perimeter. The Cards responded by making 9 of 17 3-pointers and shot 50 percent overall.

“That was the difference between tonight and our place (a 13-point Utah Valley win last Saturday),” Wolverines coach Jeff Reinert said. “They shot it well.

“Our turnovers weren’t really as much of a problem as their making shots. That’s what teams that go to Hutchinson do - make big shots.”

NIC hiked its lead to 57-45 when Cameron Banks pulled a rebound away from Rivers and scored a layup with 16:00 left.

The Cards expanded the lead to 78-57 with 5:30 left before getting careless with the ball. Utah Valley rallied within 89-80 with 1:26 remaining, but the Cards made 6 of 8 foul shots to preserve the win.

Harrison had 20 points, Todd Myles added 19 points and seven assists and Cameron Banks scored 16.

Leonard Myles went scoreless, but had four dandy assists, a couple in the final minutes. Reserve forward Bo Johnson chipped in nine points.

Rivers didn’t score in the first 15 minutes of the second half. He finished with 13 points, nine boards and fouled out.

Phil DeGraffenried made six 3-pointers and scored 21 points, but he was the Wolverines’ only dependable perimeter shooter.

Previewing tonight’s matchup with CEU, led by 6-7 center K’Zell Wesson, Watson said, “We had trouble matching up with them last time. Wesson killed us.

“We can’t get into too much of a run-and-gun game because they’ll run, too.”

North Idaho 95, Utah Valley 84

Utah Valley - DeGraffenried 6-11 3-5 21, Call 1-5 3-4 6, Hansen 5-10 4-5 15, Hallows 4-8 2-4 10, Afa 1-3 0-0 2, Rivers 4-5 5-9 13, Hawkins 2-3 0-0 4, Nelson 3-8 0-0 6, Beard 3-6 1-2 7. Totals 29-59 18-29 84.

North Idaho - Myrick 7-13 3-4 21, Johnson 4-5 1-1 9, T. Myles 7-10 3-7 19, McKanstry 3-9 1-2 8, Houston 0-1 0-0 0, Harrison 5-7 8-9 20, Banks 5-10 6-6 16, Ryan 0-1 2-2 2, L. Myles 0-6 0-1 0.

Halftime-North Idaho 45, Utah Valley 39. 3-point goals - Utah Valley 8-22 (DeGraffenried 6-11, Call 1-4, Hansen 1-3, Hallows 0-2, Afa 0-2), NIC 9-17 (Myrick 4-7, T. Myles 2-3, McKanstry 1-3, Harrison 2-3, Banks 1-3). Total fouls - Utah Valley 24, NIC 25. Fouled out - Hallows, Rivers, Hawkins, McKanstry. Technical fouls - none. Rebounds - Utah Valley 35 (Rivers 9), NIC 30 (Harrison 6). Assists - Utah Valley 18 (Call 7), NIC 21 (Myles 7). Attendance 1480 (est.).

College of Eastern Utah 68, Ricks 65

With the score tied, CEU’s Ime Udoka took a feed from Harold Arceneaux and buried a 3-pointer as time expired.

Then he did what most confident shooters do. He ran back to play defense, though none was required.

“When it left my hand, I knew it felt good,” said Udoka, who was open because his defender sagged off to stop the driving Arceneaux.

“I was just trying to get back and play defense and then I looked up at the clock to see how much time we had.”

He saw 0:00 on the board and a bunch of CEU teammates running after him in celebration.

Ricks (25-7) hit three 3s in the final 3 minutes to forge the tie. Jared Peterson’s 23-foot bomb evened the score at 65 with 15 seconds left.

“When you’ve got all those athletes, it’s pretty tough to stop everything,” Ricks coach Clyde Nelson said.

“You don’t feel so badly getting beat on a shot like that because we stopped their first option (Arceneaux on the drive). He made a great shot.”

Ricks (25-7) - Vaughn 1-4 0-0 3, King 4-6 0-0 8, Payne 0-0 0-0 0, Bower 6-15 1-2 17, Peterson 4-9 0-0 10, Jenkins 0-1 0-0 0, Howard 4-6 3-4 11, Dahle 1-6 0-0 2, Greene 5-9 4-4 14. Totals 25-56 8-10 65.

Eastern Utah (28-4) - Wesson 9-17 5-7 23, Udoka 5-10 0-0 12, Arceneaux 7-15 0-0 14, Johnson 1-6 0-0 3, Gill 2-5 0-0 5, Williams 3-4 1-1 7, Jackson 1-7 2-2 4. Totals 28-64 8-10 68.

Half - CEU 40, Ricks 32. 3-point goals - Ricks 7-20 (Bower 4-9, Peterson 2-7, Vaughn 1-2, Howard 0-1, King 0-1), CEU 4-15 (Udoka 2-4, Gill 1-4, Johnson 1-6, Arceneaux 0-1). Total fouls - Ricks 14, CEU 12. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - none. Rebounds - Ricks 27 (Bower 7), CEU 36 (Arceneaux 11). Assists - Ricks 20 (Peterson 8), CEU 18 (Johnson 6).

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