Yotes Stop Westmont, 79-67
CALDWELL, Idaho - A 20-6 run to open the second half lifted The College of Idaho men's basketball team to a 79-67 victory over Westmont College in the final game of the 1st Annual Wendy's Classic at the J.A. Albertson Activities Center. On a night in which over $10,000 was donated to a local adoption agency, the Yotes (4-8) shook off a poor free throw shooting night on Friday to connect on 17-of-18 second half freebies in notching the win.
Trailing 42-37 at the break, the Coyotes put on the defensive stops - forcing the NAIA Division I Warriors (3-4) to 1-of-9 shooting from outside the arc and just 29-percent shooting for the period. Josh Owen connected on three second half three-pointers, scoring 15 of his 17 points after halftime.
Bryan Champ led four C of I players in double figures with 18 points, with Steffen Spinks tallying 12 and J.R. Maggard added 11.
Westmont got 12 points from leading scorer Dan Rasp, who was plagued all night in foul trouble, with Bobby Fenske and Tyler Dutton each scoring ten. Boise native, Josh Ware, was held scoreless in the contest, but had three assists and two steals.
The Wendy's Classic was able to make a donation of $10,432 to Boise's Wednesday's Child adoption program in a pre-game ceremony. In conjunction with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and Wendy's Wonderful Kids-Idaho, both The C of I and NNU donated the gate receipts from Friday's game - which was $5,126, a total that was matched by a Family Foundation matching gift company
In the early game, Northwest Nazarene took the Classic title with an 80-70 victory over Montana Western - improving to 7-0 for the first time since joining the NCAA Division II in 2001.
After Western cut the margin to 51-47 with ten minutes remaining, NNU went on a 10-0 run, keyed by seven points from Josh Rymer, to take control of the game - which counts as an exhibition for UMW.
Rymer had a game-high 21 points, including 8-of-8 shooting from the foul line. Kendall Gielow added 18 points and nine rebounds, with Scott Helpenstell recording 12 points and nine rebounds - including a pair of alley-oop dunks.
Layne Glaus had 15 points to lead Western.