CALDWELL, Idaho – Joey Nebeker notched his third double-double of the season the College of Idaho used a big second half to bury the Evergreen State College, 103-88, to close out the first home stand of the 2014-15 Cascade Collegiate Conference season.
The Geoducks (2-5, 0-2 CCC) came out of the gates firing, shooting a blistering 54-percent from the field in the first half to take a 43-41 lead into the break.
"We have a lot of respect for how hard Evergreen State plays and as expected, they came out with a great effort tonight," head coach Scott Garson said. "They forced us to work for 40 minutes to earn this win."
The No.3 ranked Yotes (13-1, 2-0) were unable to get a point from both Demetrius Perkins and Marko Kovacevic in the first half, but both players were key factors in the final period. Perkins scored 17 points to go with six rebounds and Kovacevic accounted for 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 19 minutes of action.
"Marko and Demetrius were terrific in the second half, along with Josh Wilson who gave an unbelievable effort on the boards," Garson said. "Joey really contributed in all facets of the game in the second half; it was great to see him knock down a couple threes."
Wilson recorded his third double-double of the season, scoring 12 points and pulling down 14 boards in 32 minutes of action.
Emanuel Morgan led the Yotes assist attack, dishing out a career high 10 assists to go with his seven points, four rebounds, and two steals on the night.
"The key to the game in the second half was Manny's defense on Frankie Johnson to go along with his 10 assists and one turnover; Manny played a tremendous game tonight," Garson added.
Johnson led the Geoducks with a game high 23 points in 31 minutes of action. Three other Geoducks finished with double-figures in scoring.
Two other Coyotes finished the contest in double-figures as Jordan O'Byrne scored 17 points and Sydney Donaldson scored 10 as the Yotes shot a blazing 65-percent from the field in the second half.
C of I improved their home win streak to 24 games with the sweep over the weekend.
"With finals this week, we will have a couple of practices and days off to study; next week we will get ready for our first conference road trip, which was very difficult a year ago; I expect a lot of the same this season," Garson said. "Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon are both improved teams featuring numerous returners from last season."
