Yotes Second Half Comeback Drops No. 15 Northwest
KIRKLAND, Wash. – The College of Idaho overcame a 10 point deficit in the second half to upset No. 15 Northwest University tonight to hand the Eagles their second straight loss.
After taking a narrow 40-39 lead at halftime, the College of Idaho would see Northwest go on a 13-2 run ignited by Michael Russo’s layup in the lane and capped off by a 3 pointer by Ryan Dornik with 16:28 on the clock. Twice the C of I would cut the NU lead to 7 but each time the Eagles would answer with a 3 pointer by Ryan Dornik followed by an offensive rebound and tip in by Michael Greene at the 15:37 mark. One of two free throws by the Yotes Miguel Rodriguez would once again make it a 7 point game, but Michael Russo would drain a trey to make it 57-47 with 14:30 remaining in the game. It would be a C of I 10-0 run as Ben Van Lith’s trey would knot the game at 57-all with 9:36 to go. Antonio Garret would give the Yotes the lead for good, 65-64, with his short jumper in the lane with 5:10 showing on the clock. Northwest would go 1 for 6 from the field in the final five minutes as C of I would hit key shots. Sydney Donaldson’s tip in of a C of I missed shot would make it 73-66 with two minutes to go as the Yotes would go on to move above .500 and post their 12
th win of the season.
Northwest U.’s (19-6, 9-4 CCC) Michael Greene finished with a game high 32 points along with 7 rebounds. Ryan McIntosh and Michael Russo each dropped in 11 while Nemanja Grujicic added 7 points for the Eagles. NU fell short in spite of shooting 50% for the game hitting 26 of 52 shots. Northwest went 11-12 from the free throw line for 92%.
The College of Idaho (12-11, 8-5 CCC) was led by Taylor Pruett’s 18 points while teammates Miguel Rodriguez and Ben Van Lith each tallied 15 for the Yotes. Antonio Garrett added 14 points as they Yotes also shot 50% hitting 28 of their 56 shots. C of I won the battle of the boards with a 30-26 rebounding margin. C of I hit 84% of their free throws hitting 21 of 25 from the charity stripe.
"Tough loss for us tonight, but it just proves how competitive this conference is night in and night out," said John Van Dyke, Eagle head coach. "We have our guys giving us a lot of minutes and we just fell short tonight. Give credit to the College of Idaho for a good road victory and we'll prepare this coming week for our trip to Portland next weekend."