Perez leads balanced offense as Sasquatch roll past Knights

Humberto Perez tossed in 16 points to lead a balanced scoring attack and Community Colleges of Spokane (12-3, 2-0) rolled to a 73-53 win over Wenatchee Valley (1-14, 0-2) in Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges men’s basketball action on Saturday in Wenatchee.

Jordan Hammond chipped in with 14 points and five rebounds for CC Spokane. Erik Bell had 13 points and five rebounds and Jeremy Mangum tallied 11 points and six assists for the Sasquatch.

Brandon Jess scored 11 to lead the Knights, while Jesse Webb chipped in with 10 points and a team-high five rebounds.

The Sasquatch shot 50 percent (28 of 56) from the floor for the game, but just 52.6 percent from the free-throw line (10 of 19).

•Drew Cardwell scored 24 and Josh Vanlandingham added 17 points to lead the Pacific Lutheran Lutes (3-12, 2-4) to an 81-72 Northwest Conference win over the Whitworth Pirates (9-6, 3-3) in Tacoma.

Whitworth’s George Tucker tied for game-high honors with 24 points, while Kevin Hasenfus added 17 points and eight rebounds.

The Lutes hit 8 of 14 first-half 3-pointers to open a 45-36 lead.

Whitworth closed to within 53-52 with 13 minutes, 20 seconds remaining, but the Lutes used a 6-1 run to go up by six points. The Pirates pulled within 61-58 before PLU went on an 8-2 run to wrap up the win with just more than 2 minutes left.

•Darin Nagle totaled 21 points, four blocked shots and four rebounds to guide the North Idaho Cardinals (15-2, 5-1) to an 81-62 victory over the Dixie State Rebels (12-6, 3-3) in Scenic West Athletic Conference play in Coeur d’Alene.

The Rebels stayed with NIC in the first half because nobody could slow down freshman Moleni Taukiuvea, who scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the opening stanza.

Sophomore Frank Clair, who came off the bench to score 13 for North Idaho, drew the second-half defensive assignment on Taukiuvea and held him to just eight points on 2-of-6 shooting.