Cardinal men clip Pratt in first NJCAA game since 2016

PRATT, Kan. — It wasn't easy.

No, not even a little bit.

But for North Idaho College's first men's basketball game in the NJCAA since 2016, the Cardinals will take it.

Dante Sawyer, a sophomore transfer from San Francisco City College, had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals in an 87-85 win over Pratt Community College in the season opener for both schools on Thursday.

NIC, which trailed by 23-9 with 11:56 remaining in the first half, outscored Pratt 22-12 from the free-throw line.

"We did a good job of playing downhill and getting into the bonus early in the second half," NIC coach Corey Symons said. "We were really aggressive and forced the officials to call some fouls. We had to play through some rough basketball, but finished down the stretch."

Sophomore guard Austin Johnson, a transfer from College of Southern Idaho, gave NIC the lead for good on a pair of free throws with 6:40 remaining 

"It's a new game and a new league," Symons said. "Pratt has some big guys and we weren't as physical as they were. We just had to grind one out. It was good to find a way to win when we should have lost."

Freshman guard Caleb Smith had 26 points and 13 rebounds for Pratt, which finished 17-14 last year.

NORTH IDAHO 

Terin Johnson 6-11 4-9 16, Cobi Campbell 2-11 6-9 11, Kyle Karstetter 1-4 0-0 3, Dante Sawyer 5-12 2-2 16, Jalen Skalskiy 5-12 3-4 13, Austin Johnson 3-10 6-8 13, Vaughn Weems 7-8 1-2 15. Totals 29-68 22-34 87.

PRATT

Caleb Smith 10-20 4-8 26, Davonte (Bubba) Russ 5-5 0-1 10, Jarrett Dingle 3-10 2-2 10, Deon McLaughlin 1-1 0-0 2, Enrique Lankford 0-2 0-0 0, Justin Robinson 3-8 2-2 8, Zaquan Jones 1-1 1-2 3, Kayvontay Williams 8-13 3-4 20, Joseph Opareke 3-4 0-1 6. Totals 34-64 12-20 85.

Halftime — Pratt 39-38. 3-point goals — NIC 7-26 (Campbell 1-5, Karstetter 1-4, Sawyer 4-6, Skalskiy 0-4, A. Johnson 1-6, Weems 0-1), Pratt 5-21 (Smith 2-6, Dingle 2-8, Lankford 0-2, Robinson 0-2, Williams 1-3). Rebounds — NIC 39 (Weems 11), Pratt 36 (Smith 13). Assists — NIC 16 (Campbell 7), Pratt 15 (Dingle 5). Team fouls — NIC 13, Pratt 27. Fouled out — Williams. Technical fouls — Weems, Sawyer, Smith, Russ, Williams.

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