LA GRANDE, Ore. – The
Colby Blaine era started differently than his three predecessors, as the College of Idaho opened up the 2018-19 season with a convincing 88-64 victory over New Hope Christian at the Quinn Classic.
The preseason Cascade Conference favorite Coyotes (1-0) never trailed in the win – as 11 players saw at least 11 minutes of action, while no player was on the floor for more than 23 minutes.
Consecutive
Talon Pinckney jumpers started a quick 10-2 run to open the game, with the Yotes catching fire from beyond the arc to extend the lead. Three-pointers from
Jalen Galloway,
Justin Saunders and
Keun Palu-Thompson, along with four post points from
Matt Meyers, fueled a 13-0 run that gave C of I a 25-9 lead – a margin that would not fall below 12 the rest of the night.
C of I recorded 23 turnovers in the contest – but made up for the mistakes by holding a commanding 56-30 lead on the glass and connected on 50-percent of their field goal attempts.
Palu-Thompson led the Yotes with 18 points, with Meyers scoring 12 on 5-of-6 shooting and
Gibson Berryhill scoring 11. Pinckney had eight points and a team-high seven assists, with
Connor Desaulniers scoring six, but adding a team-high 10 rebounds.
The Deacons (0-1), an NCCAA team from Eugene, Ore., made just 32-percent of their field goals. NHCC was paced by 18 points from Jaylen Rose and 13 points from Fernando Barron.
C of I closes out the tournament tomorrow at 2 p.m. (PT) against Salish-Kootenai.
NOTES – Blaine becomes the first C of I head coach since Marty Holly in 1981 to win his first game, as Holly defeated Lewis-Clark State 88-83 on Nov. 20…Mark Owen (vs. MSU-Northern), Rod Jensen (vs. Montana Western) and Scott Garson (vs. Montana Western) each lost their first games as Coyote leaders…four players made their C of I debuts – Desaulniers, Galloway, Meyers and
Derek Wadsworth…the win ended a two-game losing streak against NCCAA teams.
