CALDWELL, Idaho –
Talon Pinckney scored 14 of his career-high 23 points in the second half, as the College of Idaho reclaimed the United Heritage Insurance Mayors' Cup with a 76-68 victory over rival Northwest Nazarene in the 204
th meeting between Idaho's Oldest College Basketball Rivals.
The Coyotes (4-3) won for the fifth-straight time against NNU at home, hitting four 3-pointers in a game-changing 16-4 second half run that broke the game open.
Both teams struggled in the first half, as the teams combined for seven lead changes and six ties – with neither team leading by more than four points and both teams shooting below the 33-percent mark. NNU opened last week's game 7-of-7 from 3-point range, but missed all 12 of their first half attempts from outside the arc.
Leading 37-33 early in the second half, the Yotes found their rhythm – triples from
Nate Bruneel and
Keun Palu-Thompson were followed by a long trey from
Justin Saunders. Palu-Thompson scored a bucket in transition, with Saunders draining a long 3-pointer after a missed NNU dunk to give the hosts a 53-37 lead with 13 minutes left.
The Nighthawks would pull within 10 points on three occasions – finally getting the deficit inside single digits at 69-63 after 3s from Megwa and Nikola Prvulj. However, C of I closed the game by making 7-of-11 free throws to grab their 121st all-time win over their Canyon County neighbors.
Pinckney made 9-of-14 field goals on the night, adding a game-high six assists, four rebounds and two blocked shots. Bruneel was perfect from outside the arc, going 3-for-3, scoring 15 points with seven rebounds; while both Palu-Thompson and Saunders finished with 14 points. The Yotes made 6-of-11 3-pointers in the second half and recorded a 50-44 rebound margin.
Megwa led all players with 27 points in 37 minutes of action for the Nighthawks and Jayden Bezzant scored 12. C of I limited NNU's leading scorer, Maurice Jones, who was averaging 24.7 points a game, to just four points on 1-of-9 shooting.
The Coyotes hit the road for Thanksgiving Weekend for a pair of games in Costa Mesa, Calif., meeting Trinity International (Ill.) on Friday and Vanguard (Calif.) in non-league games. Both games will not be broadcast on radio, but a live video feed can be accessed online through Vanguard University's
Stretch Internet Portal.
