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Community college men: CC Spokane Sasquatch stepping up; North Idaho loaded with talent again

North Idaho point guard Nate Pryor (1) competes for a rebound with Community Colleges of Spokane guard Garrett White (22) during a college basketball game, Wed. Feb. 20, 2019, at NIC. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)
By Ryan Collingwood ryanc@spokesman.com(509) 459-5473
North Idaho point guard Nate Pryor (1) competes for a rebound with Community Colleges of Spokane guard Garrett White (22) during a college basketball game, Wed. Feb. 20, 2019, at NIC. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)

The Northwest Athletic Conference’s East Region flexed its muscle on the 34-team junior college athletic association in March.

Three of the region’s men’s basketball squads – North Idaho, Walla Walla and Community Colleges of Spokane – reached the NWAC Final Four. They finished 1-2-3.

Each of those three programs has won a NWAC Tournament title since 2016, affirming the East Region’s depth.

But an offseason of controversy will have a big effect on the next three NWAC tournaments.

North Idaho is banned from the postseason from 2020-22, the result of an NWAC investigation stemming from the program’s extra benefits for student-athlete housing.

The Cardinals were forced to vacate their 2018 and 2019 NWAC tournament titles, one of the several sanctions the Coeur d’Alene team was handed.

North Idaho is still loaded, though, and looks to move forward under veteran head coach Corey Symons.

Community Colleges of Spokane, often one of the top scoring teams in the NWAC and annually in trophy contention, looks to supplant NIC as the East’s best team in the tournament.

Hard-working Spokane ready for more

Eighth-year CCS coach Jeremy Groth’s teams have always been able to light up the scoreboard.

He expects much of the same in the coming months, but that’s not what the former Curlew star likes most about this team.

“This is one of the tougher teams I’ve ever coached,” said Groth, whose team averaged 87 points a game last season. “We have a lot of hard workers on this team.”

CCS was sophomore-heavy when it went 22-10 last season and returns two players who saw substantial time in forward Garrett White (North Idaho Christian) and guard Tanner McCliment-Call (Post Falls).

White, a second-team All-East Region selection, averaged 13.9 points and six rebounds.

Groth signed another North Idaho product, 6-foot-11 Josiah Haaland from Lakeland High School, who he believes will boost the Sasquatch frontcourt and continue to develop.

“You just don’t see that kind of size in the NWAC,” Groth said of Haaland, son of former Gonzaga forward Dale Haaland.

The Sasquatch open their season Nov. 15 against a CCS alumni team.

North Idaho still experienced, talented

North Idaho, which is 81-15 since joining the NWAC in 2016, lost league MVP RayQuan Evans to Florida State and forward Alphonso Anderson to Utah State.

But the Cardinals return six players from a team that beat each of its NWAC opponents by an average of 32 points last season, including leading scorer and Division I recruit Nate Pryor (18.9 ppg, 5.3 assists per game).

Emmitt Taylor, the team’s best long-range shooter (114 3-pointers), is also back, as well as dependable guard Phillip Malatare (8.3 ppg, 3.3 apg).

The Cardinals are still big, featuring 6-foot-11 Yusuf Mohamed and 6-9 forwards James Carlson and Ismael Valdez.

North Idaho picked up a Division I transfer in the offseason in former Coeur d’Alene star Joey Naccarato, a 6-4 guard who saw time as a true freshman at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.

The Cardinals open their season Nov. 15 against Chemeketa CC at the Harold Williams Invitational in Portland.