Box Score PORTLAND, Ore. – Shooting a blistering .600 (39-65) from the field, including .667 (16-24) from long range, the 4
th-ranked College of Idaho Coyotes clinched a share of the Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball regular-season title with a 99-61 win over the host Multnomah University Lions Friday night here at Lytle Gym.
The loss also made it tougher for the Lions, who are still mathematically in the running for the eighth and final spot in the CCC post-season tournament, to earn that berth. Multnomah is currently 10
th at 3-14, just behind ninth-place Evergreen State College (4-14) and eighth-place Northwest University (4-12), and the Lions will close out the regular season against those two teams on the road next weekend.
The College of Idaho set the tone of the game early, jumping out to a 5-0 lead by making their first two shot attempts, a jumper by Aziz Leeks and a three-pointer by Keun Palu-Thompson. After
Brett Blackstock put the Lions on the board with a jumper, the Coyotes stretched their lead to 16-7 at the 15:06 mark as Nate Bruneel nailed three in a row from beyond the arc, and another three, this one by Roosevelt Adams, gave C of I its first double-digit lead at 21-10 at the 13:05 mark. The Lions were never within single digits again as the Coyotes shot .571 (20-35) in the first half, including .733 (11-15) from downtown. A layup by Talon Pinckney gave the visitors their largest lead of the half, 25 points at 54-29, with 55 seconds left before a
Darius Redrick jumper for the Lions made it 54-31 at the break.
The Coyotes kept the margin in the 20's for almost seven minutes to open the second half before Bruneel hit yet another three to make it a 31-point game at 74-43 with 13:08 left. As hot as they were in the first half, the 'Yotes were even hotter in the second half, canning 19-of-30 for a .633 percentage. Multnomah scored its final points on a pair of
Stephen Sedlock free throws with 2:37 left, and the Coyotes tacked on the game's final nine points as the final score was the largest gap of the night.
--- By the Numbers: Ben Grandle led Multnomah with 14 points, including four three-pointers, and
Beau Shockley added 12 off the bench. Blackstock and
Max Upchurch just missed double digits with nine points each. Grandle, Blackstock, and
Jon Viles had three rebounds apiece as the Lions were out-boarded 47-19. Redrick passed out three assists, and Shockley had a pair of blocked shots. The Lions shot .371 (23-62) from the field and only .289 (11-38) on threes.
Leeks finished with a game-high 27 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds to lead the 'Yotes. Adams added 18 points, making 7-of-7 from the floor with four threes, Bruneel had 17 with five threes, and Palu-Thompson and Gibson Berryhill scored 10 each. Pinckney handed out nine assists and had a pair of steals.
Multnomah fell to 6-20 on the season and 3-14 in the conference, while the College of Idaho, with its 12
th straight win, improved to 22-5 overall and 16-1 in the league.
--- Quoting MU coach Curt Bickley: "You see why C of I is such a good team. They are hard to beat when they are shooting normal, but when they shoot like that, they are impossible to beat. Big game tomorrow night; we need to show up and compete hard."
--- Next: Multnomah hosts 21
st-ranked Eastern Oregon University Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in its next-to-last home game, a CCC contest … Gate and concession proceeds from Saturday's men's and women's games will go to the family of Ana Wakefield, the Multnomah women's player who missed this season due to serious injuries suffered in an automobile accident back in October … The College of Idaho visits Warner Pacific College Saturday, also at 7:30 p.m. for a conference game, and can clinch the CCC title outright with a win over the second-place Knights … Both men's games will be preceded by CCC women's games at 5:30 p.m.
