'Yotes Second Half Defense Stops Evergreen
College of Idaho outscored The Evergreen State College by 23 points in the second half Friday night and surged away for an 84-60 Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball win at Costantino Recreation Center.
In the decisive final 20 minutes, the Coyotes (11-4 overall, 4-1 CCC) shot 54 percent overall while limiting the Geoducks (5-7, 2-4) to 29 percent shooting, forcing nine turnovers and winning the rebound battle, 25-11.
Evergreen was the team playing stellar defense in the early going, and combined with an effective offense it was able to open a 15-6 lead on a layup by Jonathan Jack-Nixon about 6 1/2 minutes into the opening half.
College of Idaho responded with an 16-2 spurt, capped by a Roosevelt Adams three-point shot, to take a 22-17 advantage just three minutes later. The 'Yotes led by as many as six points before settling for a 37-36 margin at the intermission.
And then the second half happened.
Evergreen took a momentary lead when Taylor Drey hit a jumper to get the second half going, but it was all College of Idaho after that.
Leading 48-47 a little more than six minutes into the second half, the 'Yotes ran off 19 unanswered points over span of slightly more than seven minutes, to go on top 67-47 and effectively put the game in the win column.
After shooting 45 percent and turning the ball over just six times in the opening half, Evergreen finished at 38 percent (21-for-55) from the field and ended up with 15 turnovers. Shawn Spencer scored 11 points and Dalton Groenewold added 10 for the Geoducks.
College of Idaho ended at 47 percent from the field and cleaned up in rebounding, 48-29, led by Roosevelt Adams with 14 and Aziz Leeks with nine. In fact, Adams was also his team's scoring leader with 16 points, one of five to hit double figures. Others were Leeks with 13, Emanual Morgan with 11 and both Aitor Zubizarreta and Jake Bruner with 10.
Both teams play tomorrow night at 7:30, Evergreen hosting conferece-leading Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho playing at Northwest University in Kirkland.