Average Csi Team Dismantles Nic Men

Over the years, College of Southern Idaho has brought a hand full of national championship-level men’s basketball teams to Christianson Gym.

With all due respect, the 1998-99 Golden Eagles are not even close to those teams. So CSI’s 87-68 victory over North Idaho College on Thursday is more of an indictment of where the Cardinals stand with six weeks left in the season than a critique of the visitors.

A balanced CSI attack was too much for the Cardinals, who dressed just eight players in the Scenic West Athletic Conference game.

“We made them look real good,” said NIC coach Hugh Watson, whose team fell to 6-8 overall, 1-5 in conference. “We couldn’t guard. I don’t know how many 3s they got that were wide open.”

CSI improved to 11-7 and 3-3.

Injuries, disciplinary measures and assorted adversity continues to add misery to NIC’s season. It was never more obvious than Thursday.

The lone bright spot for the Cardinals was 6-foot-11 freshman Jason Keep. He kept NIC in the game in the first half by scoring 15 of his game-high 31 points.

The Moscow High grad dominated the low post. Keep made 14 of 17 shots from the field.

“We thought we could contain him by playing behind him, but we didn’t,” CSI first-year coach Kevin Jones said. “We wanted to try to force him to turn to his right.”

CSI did a good job of defending wing Johnny Goodman, whose shooting slump since returning from the holidays continued. He made just 1 of 12 shots, missing all eight 3-point attempts and finishing with two points.

NIC exchanged baskets with CSI for the better part of the opening 20 minutes. Keep hit five consecutive baskets in the final 5 minutes before intermission. The Golden Eagles led 40-34 at halftime.

Things got out of hand in a hurry in the second half.

Adrian McCullough opened with back-to-back 3-pointers to propel an 11-2 start.

NIC trimmed the lead to 53-44 when Nick Booms got a putback with 12:16 left. But a 16-5 run by the Eagles, capped by a 3-pointer by Jason Buell, extended the lead to 69-49 with just over 7 minutes left.

McCullough led CSI with 22 points, Curtis Bobb had 19 and Chico Moore added 13 as six Eagles scored eight points or more.

“Early in the year I didn’t think we had the normal depth that a CSI team does,” said Jones, a nine-year CSI assistant before this season. “But the bench is starting to come on and give us quality minutes.”

Watson said it appears he’ll have only eight players available the rest of the season. And he’s not looking forward to Saturday when Treasure Valley visits.

“Treasure Valley is better than CSI; they’re the best they’ve been in I don’t know how long,” Watson said. “We might not make the playoffs.”

Southern Idaho 87, North Idaho 68

Southern Idaho - McCullough 8-9 0-1 22, Hood 1-5 3-4 6, Bobb 7-13 1-1 19, Moore 6-9 1-2 13, Jordani 3-7 2-4 8, Mitchell 2-3 3-4 8, Thomas 0-1 1-2 1, Stewart 0-0 0-0 0, Buell 2-3 2-2 8, N’Sima 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 30-52 13-20 87.

North Idaho - Goodman 1-12 0-0 2, Franklin 4-6 2-3 12, Battee 2-6 0-4 5, Fisher 4-5 0-1 8, Keep 14-17 3-6 31, Zimmerman 2-5 0-0 6, Cheeley 0-0 0-0 0, Booms 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 28-54 7-16 68.

Halftime - Southern Idaho 40, North Idaho 34. 3-point goals - Southern Idaho 14-21 (McCullough 6-7, Bobb 4-6, Buell 2-3, Mitchell 1-1, Hood 1-3, Jordani 0-1), North Idaho 5-19 (Franklin 2-4, Zimmerman 2-4, Battee 1-3, Goodman 0-8). Fouled out - None. Rebounds - Southern Idaho 24 (Hood 4), North Idaho 23 (Battee 6). Assists - Southern Idaho 15 (McCullough, Hood, Thomas 3), North Idaho 21 (Battee 6). Total fouls - Southern Idaho 16, North Idaho 15. Technicals - None. A - NA.