Swishin' and dishin' .... Campbell drains four 3s, Cardinals with 19 assists in romp over USU-Eastern

COEUR d'ALENE — To Cobi Campbell, it's the same ball and hoop it has always been.

After hitting his fourth 3-pointer on Saturday, that hoop just seemed a lot bigger.

Campbell, a sophomore from Seattle, had 13 points and three assists for North Idaho College in an 87-62 win over the Utah State University-Eastern Eagles in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game at Rolly Williams Court.

Campbell's third 3-pointer of the second half increased NIC's lead to 53-29 with 16:27 remaining.

"It brings a lot of good energy to the team," Campbell said. "Not just me personally, but when we move the ball really well, it could be me or somebody else, the energy gets to everyone. When we play together, we can play some good basketball and think we can hang with anybody."

"The nice thing is that we all know that Cobi can shoot the ball," NIC coach Corey Symons said. "He's about as good as anybody shooting the ball. But we've got to get shots for him, and we did that today and made the extra passes. We had 19 assists, and when we're able to do that, we're going to be tough to beat. They run a tough matchup zone, and Cobi did a good job of finding his gaps and making some shots."

NIC (14-6, 2-2 SWAC) held Utah State-Eastern (11-5, 2-2) to 21-of-54 shooting, including 9 of 28 in the first half, to take a 39-26 halftime lead.

"Our defense is really picking it up," Symons said. "We saw some stuff on film that we could expose and the guys did a good job of listening to the scout tonight. And we just played good defense."

NIC won its second straight conference game to improve to 2-2. The Cardinals returned to the conference for the first time since the 2015-16 season after leaving the Northwest Athletic Conference. The Cardinals face Southern Nevada on Thursday in Las Vegas. Salt Lake beat Southern Nevada 125-80 on Saturday in Taylorsville, Utah.

"We've had some challenges early on with a tough preseason schedule," Campbell said. "That's what we were looking forward to. We're learning as a team and coming together. Our goal is to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season, and that's what we're working toward."

Campbell signed with Troy (Ala.) of the Sun Belt Conference in November.

"Personally, it's all just basketball," Campbell said. "It's the same game, just different players and teams. I think a lot of our guys that came back from last year, and the guys that transferred in have that same mindset. We had a lot of new guys on the team at the start of the year, and it takes time to mold the team. But we've really making strides and coming together."

Vaughn Weems, a freshman from Federal Way, Wash., had 17 points and five rebounds for NIC.

"We're just trying to get him going," Symons said. "He's playing so well right now and we need to get him more minutes. But you look at Jalen (Skalskiy, a sophomore from Lakeland High), and it's a quiet 13 points and 11 rebounds, and a huge double-double. These guys are really buying into our team and realizing that points aren't all matters and doing the little things that help their team win."

Kyle Karstetter, a sophomore from Moses Lake, had 10 points and seven rebounds for NIC.

"Kyle's a high IQ player," Symons said. "He does such a good job for us on the defensive end."

Utah State-Eastern sophomore Martell Williams, a Southern Utah transfer, had 26 points and six rebounds.

"He's the No. 3 scorer in the league, and really plays downhill," Symons said. "We packed the paint and made it really hard for him. He finished with 26, and that's how good he is, but we tried to make it tough for him. He's a beast and plays strong. We did a good job on him tonight."

UTAH STATE-EASTERN

Trace Ross 3-7 2-3 8, Ethan Copeland 0-6 0-0 0, Ryker Richards 0-1 0-0 0, Dyson Lighthall 2-8 4-7 8, Martel Williams 9-18 7-12 26, Terrian Roy 1-4 0-0 3, Brady Arbon 1-1 0-0 2, Kendall Alexander 3-5 2-3 9, Sheldon Romirell 2-4 0-0 6. Totals 21-54 15-25 62.

NORTH IDAHO

Vaughn Weems 7-10 2-5 17, Cobi Campbell 4-7 1-1 13, Kyle Karstetter 4-8 2-2 10, Dante Sawyer 6-11 1-4 14, Jalen Skalskiy 6-9 0-2 13, Terin Johnson 2-4 4-5 8, Austin Johnson 1-5 3-4 5, D'Andre Clermont 1-1 0-0 2, Tayshawn Colvin 1-1 0-0 3, Bryce Henry 0-1 2-2 2, Tanner Tollestrup 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-57 15-25 87.

Halftime — NIC 39-26. 3-point goals — USUE 5-22 (Ross 0-3, Copeland 0-3, Richards 0-1, Williams 1-7, Roy 1-2, Alexander 1-2, Romirell 2-4), NIC 8-21 (Weems 1-2, Campbell 4-7, Karstetter 0-3, Sawyer 1-2, Skalskiy 1-3, A. Johnson 0-3, Colvin 1-1). Rebounds — USUE 30 (Alexander 8), NIC 36 (Skalskiy 11). Assists — USUE 7 (Williams

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