A border-battle nail-biter

Now this was a great idea.

Put the area’s two junior college teams on the best basketball stage in the city. Mix in a crowd of 1,821 – or more than double what they usually draw for their annual game in Spokane. And watch a six-point game with 10 seconds to play come down to an unlikely last shot.

Seeing rival North Idaho College escape the McCarthey Athletic Center on the Gonzaga campus with a 76-73 victory was the only thing that hurt Eric Hughes’ feelings.

“What a great environment,” said the Community Colleges of Spokane men’s coach. “I was really impressed with the crowd. In my wildest dreams, I didn’t think we’d get that many.”

And they probably didn’t think they’d get a game down to the last drop after NIC’s Nick Livi made six free throws in the final 37 seconds to put the Cardinals up 76-70.

But CCS’ Jon Clift got himself to the foul line with 7.5 seconds to play, making the first shot and intentionally bricking the second. The long rebound eventually found its way into the hands of Sasquatch guard Eric Beal, who was fouled by NIC’s Brian Morris hoisting up a 3-pointer with 2.2 left. Beal made the first two, then intentionally missed his third – and got the ball back again for a desperation, fade-away 3 that fell short.

When does the intentional miss ever work twice in a game?

“Spokane honestly played harder than we did,” said NIC coach Jared Phay, whose team improved to 8-3. “They always give us a battle.”

And more. Last year, CCS split two games with the Cardinals. This time, the Sasquatch (4-6) rode the strong first half of Ben Mitchell to a 38-34 lead at halftime, scoring the last eight in a row.

But Morris and Jamaal Rolle asserted themselves inside, and guard Kerry Williams triggered a run of 3s that carried the Cardinal to a 58-49 lead midway through the second half.

The Sasquatch were able to cut that spread to a point, at 60-59, after a couple of pretty buckets by Zach Gianukakis – but they struggled against the NIC zone for much of the last nine minutes. And even when NIC turned it over on three straight possessions with just a five-point lead, the Sasquatch didn’t take advantage.

“We hadn’t seen a lot of zone this year,” admitted Hughes. “And we just had too many empty possessions.”

NIC didn’t have many when it got the ball to Morris.

The transfer from Southern Methodist led all scorers and rebounders with 25 and 11, and an 11-of-17 shooting night included a couple of 3-pointers – so no wonder he reported happily that “I like this gym. The rim looked big to me tonight.”

Said Hughes, “We tried to match up against the big guy and just had a hard time. That’s the difference between our league and the Scenic West. On the perimeter, we competed man-for-man, but we don’t have 6-foot-8, 240-pound guys like him in the NWAACC. And the one thing we hadn’t seen him do is step out and shoot 3s.”

Mitchell, who had 14 points at halftime, managed just two in the second half as the Sasquatch did have to resort to perimeter shooting – and saw their percentage drop to 39 percent. Beal also had 16 points, and Clift 14. NIC, meanwhile, had great balance behind Morris with four other players in double figures, and shot 52 percent from the field to offset 20 turnovers.

Phay noted both teams were a little weary – CCS from a weekend road trip to Seattle and NIC from emotional back-to-back games against Southern Idaho. And he’s looking forward to the team’s holiday break – especially since he’s getting married Friday.

“We wanted him to have a good wedding and honeymoon, so we had to get him a win,” said Morris. “That’s his present.”