CALDWELL, Idaho – The No.6 ranked College of Idaho forced 14 steals and blocked a school-record 12 shots en route to a 73-58 victory over the seventh seeded Eastern Oregon University inside the J.A. Albertson Activities Center.
Senior guard Josh Wilson recorded his sixth double-double on the season for the Coyotes (27-5, 14-4), scoring 13 points and pulling down 11 rebounds.
The Mountaineers (15-15, 6-12) led for the majority of the first half, as Bryan McGriff scored 13 of his game high 31 points.
C of I finally grabbed their first lead of the contest with 1:39 remaining in the first half as Manny Morgan drilled a 3-pointer to give the Yotes a 32-31 advantage. The Coyotes took a 34-31 lead into the break and came out of the gates in the second half hot, finishing off a 10-0 run to extend the lead to 39-31.
C of I pushed the lead to double-digits as Joey Nebeker cleared a path on a screen, setting up Demetrius Perkins to hammer home a dunk with 14:05 remaining in the game. Eastern Oregon was unable to cut the deficit to single digits through the rest of the contest.
Nebeker scored 11 points and forced 6 steals in the contest; Sydney Donaldson added another five steals to the Coyotes total. Perkins led the team in scoring with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Joe Vaz blocked seven shots to go along with eight rebounds in just 15 minutes of action.
Shooting woes were an issue for the Mountaineers as they made just 3-of-21 from 3-point territory and 17-of-60 from the field on the night. The Coyotes shot 43-percent from the floor and 39-percent from deep.
With the win, C of I extended their home-court winning streak to 33 games and advances to the CCC Championship where they will meet the fourth seed and No.23 ranked Southern Oregon Raiders. The Coyotes will look to win back-to-back conference tournament titles for the first time since 2003-04. Tickets for the championship bout will go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. with tipoff on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
