Shooting stars ... Cardinal men catch on in romp

COEUR d'ALENE — Shooters shoot, and when they get going, it's tough to stop. 

On Saturday, there was no stopping the North Idaho College trio of sophomores Vaughn Weems and Deng Diew, and freshman Ne'quan Brown. 

In the men's game, Weems, who leads the NJCAA in scoring at 27.9 points per game, scored 28, Diew added 24 and Brown added 22 as the Cardinals (14-11, 4-6 SWAC) blitzed 20th-ranked College of Southern Idaho (19-6, 7-3) 108-81 in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game at Rolly Williams Court on Saturday. 

"We're a good shooting team, but we haven't been making shots," NIC coach Corey Symons said. "Eventually, I knew we were going to make some shots. To go 10 of 21 from the 3-point line and to shoot 36 of 57, that was based on our defense. When we can defend and shoot, we're a pretty good team." 

NIC's men and women remain home to face Colorado Northwestern on Thursday, then hosts Salt Lake next Saturday.

MEN: CSI beat NIC 75-74 on Jan. 4 in Twin Falls.

On Saturday, NIC led by as much as 35 points. 

"The first game, we really shouldn't have lost," Weems said. "To come in, in our house and our crib, and get it back, it was really nice, especially after that loss to Snow (last Saturday)." 

Weems was 11 of 12 from the free-throw line, and finished with seven rebounds. 

"When people scout against me, it really gives our other guys a chance to get going," Weems said. "I'm an unselfish player and I'm trying to feed my teammates so they can feast." 

NIC finished with 15 assists, compared to seven for CSI. 

"We really shared the ball well today," Symons said. "That was probably one of our better games with the assists. We threw it in to Deng a lot early because they're a little beat up and don't have any bigs. For those three and Dace to get 16, we're starting to peak at the right time. But with four or five weeks left in the season, we just want to keep getting better." 

NIC and CSI have split the previous four matchups since the Cardinals returned to the NJCAA after years in the Northwest Athletic Conference. 

"If you can't get up for these games, and nothing against tennis players, but if you can't get up for this game, then there's something wrong with you and you need to go play tennis," Symons said. "This is a big game with a lot of history. I don't care how good or bad another team is. To come out with a 20-point win is a huge game in this rivalry." 

Jalen Lyn scored 21 points off the bench for CSI, which is second in the conference behind Snow, which improved to 10-0 in the SWAC with a 91-86 win over visiting Salt Lake (16-9, 4-6) on Saturday. NIC and Salt Lake are tied for third.

"They hit shots, a lot of shots," CSI coach Jeff Reinert said of NIC. "We're down a few guys and they took advantage of it. NIC has been playing well though and it's not a surprise how well they played. We knew it was going to be close. They're good and Vaughn is special and they hit shots tonight. They've got a good thing going right now, so we're going to have to do some things different when we see them at our place." 

SOUTHERN IDAHO 

Dale Griffin 3-8 0-0 8, Tanner Hayhurst 5-9 4-5 14, Amarco Doyle 1-3 0-0 2, Khayri Dunn 1-8 0-0 2, Nathan Ahner 1-5 2-2, Jalen Lyn 8-14 4-6 21, Gerry Guerrero 4-9 1-1 12, Marcus Fizer Jr. 3-10 0-0 8, Samuel Lumpumba 5-7 0-0 10. Totals 31-74 11-14 81. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Vaughn Weems 8-15 11-12 28, Deng Diew 10-13 4-6 24, Ne'quan Brown 7-12 6-8 22, Dace Pleasant 5-7 1-2 16, Tayshawn Colvin 0-2 1-2 1, Jeremiah Sibley 0-2 2-5 2, Sam Marbury 2-2 1-2 6, Jacori Ervin 1-2 0-0 2, Bryce Henry 1-1 0-0 2, Ajayi Simmons 2-3 0-0 5. Totals 36-59 26-37 108. 

Halftime — NIC 57-33. 3-point goals — CSI 8-31 (Griffin 2-4, Hayhurst 0-2, Doyle 0-2, Dunn 0-5, Ahner 0-2, Lyn 1-3, Guerrero 3-8, Fizer Jr. 2-5), NIC 10-21 (Weems 1-5, Brown 2-4, Pleasant 5-7, Sibley 0-2, Marbury 1-1, Simmons 1-2). Rebounds — CSI 29 (Hayhurst 9), NIC 37 (Diew 8). Assists — CSI 7 (Lyn 4), NIC 15 (Diew, Pleasant, Marbury 3). Team fouls — CSI 23, NIC 16. Fouled out — Dunn, Pleasant. Technical fouls — CSI team, Guerrero. 

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