Cardinals hold strong, defeat Colorado Northwestern

North Idaho College men’s basketball coach Jared Phay could joke about it afterward, but there wasn’t much chuckling going on as he watched his team blow almost all of a 15-point lead in rapid-fire fashion.

That’s when point guard Keelan Donald, a 50 percent free-thrower this season, made a pair of crucial foul shots with 30.8 seconds left to help NIC turn back Colorado Northwestern 91-83 on Friday at Christianson Gym.

NIC, which had lost five straight and 12 of its last 14, hiked its record to 12-15, 4-11 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference. Colorado Northwestern (2-21, 0-13) dropped its 17th straight, despite one of its better efforts of the season. The teams tangle again tonight at 7:30.

“With about three minutes left, we noticed the crowd was starting to leave and we wanted them to stick around so. …” Phay mused. “No, actually this group is just bound and determined to kill me off with a heart attack at 28 years old.”

Phay’s heart wasn’t the only one beating faster as NIC frittered away an 86-71 lead with 3:18 remaining. Phay removed several starters at that point, but ended up sending them back in with 1:12 left after Lyman Bangerter hit a pair of free throws to trim NIC’s lead to 86-80.

“All we have to do (with 3:18 left) is not come down and take quick shots and that’s exactly what we did,” Phay said. “They hit a couple of tough shots and got back into it.”

Thanks to plenty of help from the Cardinals, who had a turnover, and foolishly went for a lob pass that backfired, resulting in another turnover. When Trent Dykster canned a 3-pointer with 48 ticks remaining, NIC’s lead was 86-83 and the crowd was squirming in their seats.

Donald hit two free throws to settle the Cards and added two more with 14.6 seconds left.

“Too close for comfort,” Donald smiled. “We played them at their place and did the same thing. We got ahead and they started coming back. We can’t do that (tonight).”

The Cardinals shot 70.4 percent from the field in the second half, which gave them enough cushion to hang on at the end. NIC forwards Harry Disy and Darin Nagle combined for 39 points, 23 rebounds and a handful of acrobatic dunks.

NIC sleep-walked into a 26-17 hole midway through the first half. The Cardinals narrowed the margin to 32-29 before ripping off eight points in 65 seconds, six of those points coming from Disy’s work on the interior. Despite stretches of shaky offensive execution and inattentive defense – Colorado Northwestern shot 54.2 percent in the first half – NIC managed a 42-39 lead at intermission.

“We didn’t start off very good and it was the same at the end,” Nagle said. “Keelan hit some big free throws that kind of saved it for us.”

Women

Jeni Boesel drained five 3-pointers and scored 29 points to lead North Idaho College to an easy win over the visiting Spartans.

NIC improved to 18-9 overall, 9-6 in the SWAC, a half-game ahead of idle Dixie for third place. Colorado Northwestern dropped to 2-22, 0-13.

Ten Cardinals scored as NIC pulled away from a 40-27 halftime edge. Lindsey Koppen made four 3-pointers en route to 17 points and Julie Pearson added 11 points. NIC finished with 27 steals, including eight by Sheena Hinkle. The Spartans committed 42 turnovers.

The same two teams meet tonight at 5:30 at Christianson Gym.