No. 4 Yotes Hold Off No. 10 Raiders
CALDWELL, Idaho – The No.4 ranked College of Idaho got double-digit scoring from four players and used a strong second half to run past No.10 Southern Oregon in the NAIA National Game of the Week inside the sold-out J.A. Albertson Activities Center.
"Unreal environment in Caldwell tonight," Garson said.
The Raiders (17-4, 7-3) came out of the gates hot, drilling 8-of-16 3-pointers in the first period, stretching their lead out to as many as nine points but carried just a 36-33 advantage at the break.
Eric Thompson led the Raiders with 18 points, including four of Southern Oregon's 11 3-pointers in the ball game.
The Coyotes (19-3, 8-2) began to take control of the game with just under 12-minutes to play as Marko Kovacevic slammed home his second dunk of the night to bring the Yotes level with the Raiders. The next trip down the floor, Demetrius Perkins found Joey Nebeker in the corner who knocked down the go-ahead triple. The run was part of an 11-0 Coyote spurt.
With just under six-minutes remaining, C of I led by 12-points but SOU would go on a 11-1 run, capped by a Thompson three-ball to cut the Coyote lead to two-points with 2:57 to play.
The Yotes would go on a quick 8-0 run over the next two minutes, fueled by two baskets from Sydney Donaldson to go along with his seven steals, to pull away for good from the Raiders.
The starting backcourt for the Coyotes combined for 16 rebounds and 12 assists in the ballgame. Perkins flirted with a triple-double, scoring eight points, pulling down eight boards, and dishing out eight assists. Josh Wilson scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
"Josh and Demetrius combined for 16 rebounds; that's pretty good for your starting backcourt," Garson said. "I was really proud of the way Demetrius handled Southern Oregon's defensive awareness of him, leading our team with eight assists. Josh not only pushed the tempo for us tonight, but he did a great job defending Tim Weber all night."
Two Coyotes recorded double-doubles as Nebeker scored 19 points paired with 10 rebounds and Kovacevic scored 11 points along with 11 rebounds.
"Joey and Marko both with double-doubles tonight; they both played so physical and aggressive," Garson said. "Joey is really starting to find his stroke from the perimeter now. That's the second straight game where his 3-point shots were a huge difference in separating the game."
With the win, the Coyotes advanced their home court winning streak to 28 games and moved ahead of Southern Oregon in the CCC standings. C of I will close out the home stand tomorrow evening when the second-winningest coach in college basketball history leads the Owls of Oregon Tech into Caldwell at 7:30 p.m.