Small colleges: CCS men look to improve scoring punch; NIC hopes to soar behind high-flying Vaughn Weems
The Community Colleges of Spokane and North Idaho College basketball begin their second seasons on different paths.
CCS remains in the Northwest Athletic Conference while NIC – previously a NWAC member – enters Season 2 as part of the National Junior College Athletic Association.
CCS men
The Sasquatch men hope to improve on last season’s No. 3 seed in the NWAC Tournament. Coach Jeremy Groth hopes new additions will help the team’s scoring punch.
“Basically we wanted more guys who could make it, not just shoot it, but make it as well,” Groth said.
Zack Reighard, a sophomore guard from Mead, and Nate Visentin, a 6-foot-8 big man are the only returning starters from last season’s squad that finished 16-14 overall and 8-6 in league play.
“He’s our hardest worker, he’s always in the gym, he’s invested so much time and he’s doing it the right way too,” Groth said of Reighard. “We’re very thankful and blessed to get one more year with him.”
Sam Wenkheimer, a Mead grad who took last year off after a freshman season at Wenatchee Valley, Evan Nomee, a freshman from Rogers, should see plenty of action.
CCS women
Head coach Brittany Davis – formerly Kennedy after getting married this summer – is in her third season for CCS and is looking to get off to a hot start this season. CCS finished 10-15 overall and 5-9 in league play a season ago.
Most of the roster is from the Inland Northwest, with three players from outside of the area. The Spokane region is a hotbed of talent, Davis said.
“Especially growing up and seeing the talent I got to compete against and play alongside with in high school, it’s just the same and I think it’s starting, actually, to ramp back up,” she said.
NIC men
Corey Symons’ squad in the 2023-24 season overcame the goals the coaching staff had in place for the team after making the switch from the NWAC to the NJCAA.
They took third in Region 18, while still having a chance to win the league with three games remaining.
“I think we did well for what we went through last year with changing at a late date, we kind of had an NWAC roster because it was so late in the game when we moved, but we had a good year,” Symons said. “To take third in arguably one of the toughest junior college leagues in the country, without a whole lot of preparation, I was proud of our guys and happy with our coaching staff.”
The roster was still overhauled this summer with 16 new faces in Coeur d’Alene this fall and only two returners. One returnee, Vaughn Weems, a sophomore from Federal Way, Washington, is one of the best guards in the country, Symons said.
“He can score at all three levels, he’s a big-time athlete for us,” Symons said.
Two other players to watch are Sam Marbury, a transfer from Central Wyoming, and Deng Diew, a transfer out of Northeastern Colorado.
Jacori Ervin, a 6-11 freshman from North Central High School and Gage Ontiveros, a 6-10 freshman from Pocatello, Idaho will provide a lot of height off the bench.
NIC women
Head coach Nathan Covill, who is in his third season, only has two returning players with 12 new faces looking to make an impact.
“I feel like we made some drastic improvements and gave our team a good chance to see the sort of competition they will play all season,” Covill said of his team’s offseason additions.
Sophomore Iratxe Amorrortu, a native of the Canary Islands in Spain, and redshirt freshman Tayler Adams are the two holdovers from an NIC team that finished 8-17 overall and 1-9 in conference play.