Rebels Alter Their Defense, Leave Cards Whistlin’ Dixie Nic Men See Lead Evaporate, Their Season Come To A Close

The North Idaho Cardinals had the fourth-ranked Dixie Rebels right where they wanted them with 12:40 left in Thursday’s NJCAA Region 18 men’s basketball tournament game.

The Cardinals were in control 48-40, and Rebels center Rudy Williams had just dribbled the ball off his foot and out of bounds. Dixie coach Jeff Kidder was crouched on the sidelines with his head buried in his hands.

Game over, right?

Not even close.

During the next 10-plus minutes, Dixie got its game together and took over, frustrating the Cardinals by packing in their defense.

NIC freshman JoVann Johnson’s technical foul for slamming the ball into the Hart Gymnasium floor in frustration gave Dixie two free throws and a 76-65 lead with 2:13 to go. Then, the Rebels finished off the Cardinals 86-67 to move into today’s semifinal round.

North Idaho finished its season 17-13.

NIC coach Hugh Watson said his Cardinals went away from their inside game when Dixie changed its defense.

“They went to that zone on us and we started getting into foul trouble,” Watson said. “Instead of pounding the ball inside, everybody started throwing up shots from the outside.

“If we would have stuck with the game plan, we would have been in pretty good shape.”

That game plan worked for the opening 27 minutes.

Playing a more patient, restrained game, the Cardinals were ahead 35-28 at the half.

That was not the most secure of leads, particularly since NIC hit only 38 percent of its shots, earned only three assists and turned the ball over 14 times against a Dixie team that had thumped the Cards by a total of 66 points in two previous meetings.

“They really slowed the game down,” Kidder said of the Cardinals. “They were playing very deliberate and unselfish. Then we went to the zone. That made (NIC) stand around a little bit and try the long shots.”

“We were staying right with our game plan until (12:40 was left),” Watson said. “We were limiting them to one shot, boxing out and moving the ball around. We went up by eight, they went to the zone, we started shooting three- and four-point shots and it was all downhill from there.”

The Cardinals went down firing, lofting 24 3-point shots in the game and hitting only four. Johnny Goodman had three of those. He led NIC with 18 points and nine rebounds. Johnson finished with 15 points and eight boards.

Sophomore point guard Nathaniel Bailey finished his NIC career with a 12-point performance. He also had nine of NIC’s 29 turnovers and only one of its nine assists.

In other games, Ricks College beat Utah Valley 76-69, Southern Idaho defeated Eastern Utah 86-75 and Snow College beat Salt Lake 78-77.

NIC’s women play Utah Valley State today at 11 a.m. PST.

Dixie 86, North Idaho 67

North Idaho (17-13) - Johnson 3 9-10 15, Bailey 5 2-4 12, Goodman 6 3-4 18, Watson 0 4-4 4, Fisher 2 0-0 4, Houston 1 0-0 2, Clay 1 0-0 3, Al Aroney 2 0-0 4, Ryan 2 1-4 5. Totals 22 19-27 67.

Dixie (27-4) - Holmes 4 13-16 22, House 6 5-6 17, Langillier 3 3-4 9, Williams 8 2-5 18, Dent 2 4-6 8, Jewkes 1 2-2 4, Cousey 2 0-1 4, Stilson 2 0-0 4. Totals - 28 29-40 86.

Halftime - NIC 35, Dixie 28. 3-point goals - NIC 4-24 (Goodman 3-13, Clay 1-2, Bailey 0-4, Watson 0-2, Brousseau 0-2, Johnson 0-1). Dixie - 1-8 (Holmes 1-6, Jewkes 0-1, Stilson 0-1). Rebounds - NIC 31 (Goodman 9), Dixie 41 (House 10). Assists - NIC 9 (Clay 2), Dixie 16 (Stilson 5). Total fouls - NIC 31, Dixie 20. Fouled out - NIC, Clay; Dixie, Langillier. Technicals - NIC, Johnson; Dixie, House.