North Idaho turns tables on CSI
College of Southern Idaho owned the second half Friday night. North Idaho College took it back Saturday.
This time it was the Cardinals who produced the second-half run, a 29-10 burst in the first 7 minutes that propelled NIC to a 98-91 men’s basketball victory over the sixth-ranked Golden Eagles at Christianson Gym.
When Scott Stockwell scored on a layup in the closing seconds, NIC’s bench erupted in celebration and head coach Jared Phay was swarmed by assistants Marsell Colbert and Corey Symons.
Seconds later, Phay exchanged a handshake near midcourt with CSI coach Barret Peery.
“He just said, ‘Great job, you deserved it, way to fight back,’ ” said Phay, whose club was humbled 101-75 by CSI on Friday. “You just have to keep competing and don’t ever quit. This was a great lesson for us.”
The victory knocked CSI (9-1, 1-1 Scenic West) from the unbeaten ranks. NIC improved to 7-3, 1-1.
For a while, it looked like NIC was still feeling the aftershocks from Friday’s loss. CSI sprinted in front 31-13, but the Cardinals battled back within three on Steven Wesley’s spin move in the lane with 2:30 left.
CSI led 51-44 at half as 10 Golden Eagles cracked the scorebook. NIC’s Brian Morris poured in 16 first-half points and Nick Livi added 11, but the Cardinals endured turnover-prone stretches for the second consecutive night.
That changed in the second half as NIC committed just eight turnovers and had much more success breaking down CSI’s pressure defense.
That led to a whopping 26 assists and the Cardinals connected on 50.7 percent from the floor.
“They came out harder than us (Friday),” said Morris, who scored a team-high 30 points after being limited to 13 Friday. “We had a good first half Friday, but our second half was sluggish so I kept telling everybody we need to play 40 minutes hard. And we did that.”
Livi backed Morris with 19 points and six rebounds. Jamaal Rolle finished with 14 points and five boards, and Stockwell added nine points and nine assists.
Shawn Henderson scored four of his 12 points in the closing 3 minutes.
“They’re very good,” Phay said of CSI. “They won’t have many losses this year, but now we know we can beat them.”
Brandon Stores and Kelvin Davis each had 14 points for CSI, which was stung by 25 turnovers. After hitting 14 3-pointers in Friday’s win, CSI was only 6 of 20 beyond the arc Saturday.