CALDWELL, Idaho – Senior guard Demetrius Perkins scored a game-high 19 points to lead the No.4 College of Idaho past Northwest Christian University, 70-66, in a rematch of the 2013-14 Cascade Conference Tournament championship game inside a packed J.A. Albertson Activities Center.
Richard Black tipped in a basket in the final three seconds of the first half to cap a late 5-0 run by the Coyotes (23-4, 13-2) to take a four-point advantage into the intermission.
Javonte Byrd drilled scored three of his game-high 19 points with just under 12-minutes remaining to give the Beacons (16-9, 9-7) their first lead of the second half.
NCU did not give up the lead for the next three minutes until Manny Morgan hit a go-ahead triple to give C of I back the lead.
With both squads tied at 53 with just over five-minutes to play, the Coyotes used a 9-2 run fueled by a pair of baskets from 3-point territory to grab the lead for good.
The Beacons attempted a dramatic comeback in the final twenty seconds, canning three triples but Perkins and Sydney Donaldson combined to make six game-clinching free throws to secure the Coyote victory.
C of I suffered a rare defeat on the battle of the boards, getting outrebounded by seven but the Coyotes outscored the Beacons 30-12 inside the paint.
"I am so proud of the effort our team gave. We started executing so much better against the zone in the second half and got stops down the stretch when we needed them," head coach Scott Garson said.
Josh Wilson and Donaldson led the charge on the hustle stats for C of I, combining for seven steals between the two seniors.
Jack Hackman and Travis Pacos joined Byrd in double-figure scoring for the Beacons, with just three other players on the roster recording a point in the contest.
"NCU is a national tournament worthy team. It took everything we had to beat them tonight; I feel that the Cascade Conference deserves five teams in Branson with the Beacons being one of them," Garson added.
With the win, C of I extended their home-court winning streak to 30 games and clinched a quarterfinal host game for the conference tournament at the end of the month.
The Coyotes will close out their 2014-15 regular season home schedule tomorrow night against Corban as the Yotes will recognize seven seniors with 10-minutes before tip-off of the contest, slated to get underway at 7:30 p.m.
