CALDWELL, Idaho – No. 1-ranked College of Idaho opened up defense of their Cascade Conference Tournament title with a dominating performance, rolling past Corban University, 85-67, a quarterfinal match-up inside the J.A. Albertson Activities Center.
The Coyotes (28-3) extended their school-record win streak to 22 games with their second win over the Warriors in four days – holding the visitors to just 3-of-24 shooting from 3-point range on the night.
C of I will host Eastern Oregon on Saturday night in the semifinals of the event, presented by U.S. Bank. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. – with current reserved season-ticket holders having until 9 a.m. on Friday morning to secure their seats before all tickets are opened to the general public.
The Yotes made five of their first seven shots on the night – as 3-pointers from
Nate Bruneel and
Jake Bruner started a 15-5 run to open the night.
Derek Wadsworth and
Talon Pinckney splashed triples in a 9-0 run to extend the margin to 30-13, with a Pinckney elbow jumper giving C of I their largest lead of the opening half at 38-18.
The Warriors (13-18), who won the tournament title as the No. 8 seed three seasons ago, cut the margin to 42-31 early in the second half on a pair of Beau Roggenbach free throws.
Ricardo Time took over, canning three 3-pointers in a five minute stretch – the third extending C of I's lead to 64-42 – with a
Connor Desaulniers inside basket giving the hosts their biggest lead of the night at 70-44.
Time led the Yotes with 15 points, with
Ivory Miles-Williams scoring 11 points with nine rebounds. Desaulniers had 10 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots, with Pinckney scoring nine points, adding five assists and five steals.
C of I made 25-of-33 free throws in the victory and had a 51-41 edge in rebounds.
A.J. Hodges and Mauricio Smith each scored 13 points to lead the Warriors, with Denis Kirichenko scoring eight points with a team-high nine rebounds. Corban made just 31-percent of their field goals.
The Coyotes improved to 8-1 all-time in postseason meetings with Corban and pushed their home record in 2019-20 to 16-1.
