Bison come up short against No. 3 Northern Idaho
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PABLO — A rough-shooting first half was too much for the Bison to overcome Tuesday as they fell at home to third-ranked North Idaho College 96-73.
The Bison managed just 8-30 shooting in the opening half and a dismal 4-20 from beyond the 3-point arc as the Cardinals jumped out to a 52-28 halftime advantage. SKC bounced back to outscore the Cardinals 45-44 in the second half on the strength of 7-15 shooting from 3-point range, but it was not nearly enough to erase the Northern Idaho lead.
“We ran some good sets and got to the open spots. We just didn’t knock down shots,” SKC head coach Zachary Conko-Camel said. “When you are not making shots and they are running power plays and getting easy shots at the basket, you are not going to win a game that way.”
The Bison had four players in double digits in the scoring column as Jason Enright led the way with 12 points on 4-5 shooting from 3-point range, while Sonny Eppinette and Marvin Lewis each added 11 points and Dennis Sangrey had 10. Lewis added seven rebounds in the loss while Joe Chartraw contributed six rebounds and five assists.
Northern Idaho’s height advantage plagued the Bison all evening as the Cardinals won the rebounding battle 48-35, leading to several easy second-chance baskets.
“They have their height and we didn’t offset it with our speed and quickness,” Camel said. “Though, I asked my players if they felt pressured by their height and if they felt like they were going to have their shots blocked, and they didn’t feel like that was the case.”
Freshman 6-foot-8 forward Jake Owsley led the Cardinal attack with a career-high 18 points along with five rebounds off the bench while 6-foot-6 guard Tyrone White added 17 points and four rebounds. Owsley’s strong game led a solid performance from the Cardinal bench, which outscored the SKC bench 43-22.
A pair of threes by Chartraw and Enright gave the Bison their only lead of the contest early in the opening half but the Cardinals answered with a 15-2 run to grab a quick 20-8 advantage. Lewis ended the run with a layup but Northern Idaho reeled off 10 unanswered points to push its lead to 30-10 with 9:47 to play in the opening half.
The Bison continued to struggle to find baskets as the Cardinals continued to add to their lead.
“We have a couple of good big guys inside, but we kind of got away from throwing it in to them on the post,” Camel said. “We also wanted to go inside out, but we didn’t really do that either.”
NIC pushed its lead to as many as 26 in the opening half before taking a 52-28 lead into the halftime break.
The Cardinals went up by as many as 29 in the second half but a barrage of threes from Enright, Josh Finn and Isaac Wal helped cut into the NIC lead. Free throws also helped the Bison close the gap as Eppinette, Wal and Michael Williams each sank foul shots and Lewis added a pair to cut the lead to 71-54 after a technical foul on NIC’s Petar Joksimoic with 8:26 to play in the game.
“We knew that we had to get to the free throw line. We wanted to get into the bonus so we could pick up points with the clock stopped,” Camel said. “We knew that we had to get them to pick up some fouls so we could pick up some points with the clock not running, so it was a conscious effort to go to the basket and get fouled.”
That was as close as the Bison would get, though, as the Cardinals used a 15-6 run to put the game away.
The 6-6 Bison will be back in action Dec. 3 as they travel to Crow Agency to face Colorado Northwestern.
Summary
NIC Cardinals 96, SKC Bison 73
NIC5244–96
SKC2845–73
SKC - Jason Enright 12, Sonny Eppinette 11, Marvin Lewis 11, Dennis Sangrey 10, Joe Chartraw 7, Michael Williams 5, Ralston Moore 5, Isaac Wal 4, Stephan Moore 3, Joshn Finn 3, Charles Walking Child 2. NIC - Jake Owsley 18, Tyrone White 17, Nick Fromm 16, Ameer Shamsud-Din 10, Michael Hale III 10, Idris Lasisi 7, Deandre Taylor 6, Abebe Dimissie 4, Petar Joksimoic 4, Conner White 3, Nate Clinton 1.
