KANSAS CITY, Missouri – No. 3 College of Idaho extended its winning streak to 15 with a 71-66 win over Grace in the NAIA Men's Basketball National Tournament Round of 16 on Thursday afternoon.
College of Idaho (31-4), with the win has the best start to a season in program history, had four players score in double figures in the win, including senior Ivory Miles-Williams and redshirt freshman Jake O'Neil, who scored 16 and 15 points, respectively. The two helped the C of I bench outscore Grace by a 37-13 margin – including a convincing 20 to 4 advantage in the second half - in the win. The depth of the bench was on firm display as they have outscored their opponent counterparts in 32 of 35 games on the season.
Grace (27-8) was paced by an 18-point, nine rebound effort from Elijah Malone in the loss. He was joined in double figures by Jake Wadding, who added 10.
The Lancers erased a seven-point halftime deficit, scoring 15 of the first 21 of the final 20 minutes for a 43-41 lead.
C of I went back in front when freshman Drew Wyman hit his only 3-pointer of the game to spark nine-straight points by the Yotes as they went ahead for the remainder of the contest. Grace managed to cut the deficit to as little as five on four occasions but there was an answer by C of I to each threat.
Next up for the 'Yotes is a noon (MT)/11 a.m. (CST) matchup on Saturday against Loyola (La.).
POST-GAME NOTES: C of I is in the quarterfinals for the eighth time in program history and the third time with the single division post-season tournament. Jake O'Neil added a game-high 11 rebounds for his team-best fifth double double. O'Neil has scored in double figures in 11 of his last 14 games. The 13 points by Time put him over 1,000 for his career as he becomes the 29th player in program history to score over 1,000 points. The 16 points was the fifth time in double figures for Ivory Miles-Williams in 2021-22 and his team-high effort is the fourth time on the year that he has led C of I in scoring. The 35-28 halftime lead was the 27th time on the season that C of I has led at the halftime break. College of Idaho has now won its last four games in the NAIA National Tournament which is the longest active winning streak.