COSTA MESA, Calif. – Marko Kovacevic recorded his third double-double of the season as the No.7 College of Idaho (11-0) upset the defending NAIA Division I National Champion and preseason No.1 ranked Vanguard University, 80-79.
"Vanguard was the best team that we've played against in the two years I've been the coach here," Garson added. "Our team showed great toughness and character through the adversity of both foul trouble and being down a majority of the second half. We really buckled down defensively and got some key stops."
Demetrius Perkins had a team-high 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting, starting the game with three triples to give the Yotes an early 9-6 lead.
Joey Nebeker scored two of his 12 points to on a fast break layup to give C of I its largest lead of the game at 33-21 with 6:27 left in the first half. The Lions (4-3) would go on a 15-5 run to close the first half, trailing the Yotes by a point.
Vanguard grabbed the lead early in the final period and would hold on to it until Emanuel Morgan caught fire, going on an 8-0 run including a go-ahead three-pointer with 9:44 left to give the Yotes a 57-56 advantage.
C of I trailed by as many as six points in the final eight minutes, finally catching the Lions and grabbing the lead on a Jordan O'Byrne three with 1:57 left.
With 20 seconds remaining, Keith Mason of Vanguard took a pass from Chris Gorman and slammed home a dunk to knot the game at 79.
C of I brought the ball up the floor, took the clock down to five seconds and found Kovacevic inside, who was fouled and sent to the charity stripe. The senior split a pair of free-throws to give the Yotes the one-point advantage.
"Every week Marko gets better and better. He dominated in the paint and the boards tonight. It was a tremendous effort by him," head coach Scott Garson said.
The Lions had a desperation attempt for the win from half-court as time expired, but was unsuccessful, handing the Yotes their second upset of a No.1 ranked team in the last three years.
Morgan played a key role in the upset win on both sides of the ball, filling in for Josh Wilson who only played 16-minutes due to foul trouble.
"Manny was incredible tonight on both ends of the floor. With Josh being in foul trouble, Manny had to play the most minutes he's had to play on the year; our team didn't miss a beat once again speaking to our depth, especially playing without Joe Vaz and other starters in major foul trouble."
DeAngelo Jones had a game-high 33 points for the Lions, going 17-of-18 from the free-throw on the afternoon.
The Lions shot 45-percent from the field, including 43-percent from downtown. C of I shot their second best percentage from the field for the season, 43-percent, including 8-of-21 from three-point territory.
Despite being without seven-foot, one-inch Joe Vaz, the Yotes outrebounded the Lions 45-30 and cashed in on 17 second-chance points in the win.
With the victory, the Yotes remain undefeated and became the first team in all of college basketball to reach 11 wins on the 2014-15 season.
The Coyotes will close out the California swing tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. (PT), when they take on the 2011-12 NAIA Division I National Champion, Concordia-Irvine.
"Playing Concordia-Irvine is like playing against Duke at our level. They are a traditional power house that has won two national championships in the last decade," Garson said. "I expect our team will have no problem getting up for a game like this; it will be a great challenge in our last game before conference play."
