NAMPA, Idaho –
Joey Nebeker scored a season-high 25 points, becoming the 26th College of Idaho player to eclipse the 1,000-point mark for a career, as the Yotes won the 30th Annual Taco Bell Shoot-Out title with a 96-43 win over Portland Bible inside Johnson Sports Center.
The senior scored the Coyotes (5-1) first points of the game to become the first C of I player to hit the 1,000-point plateau since 2015 and finished the night with 1,023 points.
C of I made 59-percent of their field goals – the third time in four outings that the Yotes have made at least 50-percent of their field goal tries, while draining a season-best 14 3-pointers. The No. 7 ranked team in the NAIA Division II also held a commanding 44-19 edge on the glass, including 15 offensive boards.
The Wildcats (0-4) held tough in the first six minutes, taking a 13-10 lead on a Trey Flanagan basket, but the Yotes clamped down defensively, holding PBC without a made field goal for over eight minutes, running off 21-straight points to take control.
Aitor Zubizarreta hit two triples and both
Curtis Brever and
Roosevelt Adams hit treys in the run, as the Yotes took a 42-21 lead to the locker room.
Nebeker took over from there scoring 13 of the Yotes first 15 points of the second half, including three 3-pointers, to extend the lead to 57-26. Matthew Duniphan and Adams each had a pair of baskets and Brever canned two 3's in a 20-2 run that ballooned the margin to 80-31 – allowing the Coyotes to empty their bench.
Zubizarreta had 11 points,
Aziz Leeks scored 10 and Duniphan had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Yotes, who have won four-straight.
Trey Merriweather led the Wildcats with 15 points.
C of I won the tournament title for the fourth-straight season, as Colorado Christian topped Northwest Nazarene, 103-84, in tonight's late game.
The Yotes return to action on Tuesday night, hosting Northwest Nazarene in the first game of the United Heritage Insurance Mayors' Cup series.
