KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The goal all season long for the No. 1 College of Idaho men's basketball team has been a national championship but the path to it took a significant step with a 73-72 win over OUAZ in the Fab Four on Saturday.
The Yotes (35-1) needed every point from every player and just as important was a 44-27 advantage on the boards to extend its winning streak to a men's basketball high 35. Junior
Charles Elzie scored a team-high 21 points on the strength of a 7-for-11 effort from the field. He was joined in double figures by freshman
Samaje Morgan, who was celebrating his 19
th birthday, with 12 points and sophomore
Drew Wyman added 11.
Straton Rogers had a game-high 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive side.
The Spirit (25-10) were paced by a 28-point effort from Josiah De'laCerda. He was joined in double figures by Alex Villi and Kolten HItt, who had 17 and 15 points, respectively.
College of Idaho led for 38:46 in the win. The Yotes went ahead early on a pair of
Tyler Robinett three pointers for an early lead but the Spirit went ahead at the 12:02 mark of the first half when Villi made a layup for a 10-9 advantage. The record when say that College of Idaho was undefeated and had won 29 games when it scores first. The experience on the College of Idaho roster did not flinch with the deficit. Nine-straight points by the Yotes put C of I ahead for the remainder of the game.
Later in the half, OUAZ managed to cut the deficit to four but a 13-2 run by the Yotes to end the half put College of Idaho ahead 36-21 at the break. Another win streak came into play with the 15-point halftime lead as College of Idaho had won its last 33 games when leading at the intermission, plus its last 20 when the lead was double digits.
The Yotes started the second half, scoring 14 of the first 21 points of the second half for its biggest lead of the game after a thunderous dunk by
Paul Wilson for a 23-point lead, 50-27 with 12:43 left in the contest. The Spirit refused to concede went on a 24-10 run get the deficit to 10, 65-55 when Jayce Cacthings knocked down a pair of free throws with 2:21 left to go.
With a 10-point lead, College of Idaho called timeout and there was a lot of time left in the game. An 11-3 spurt over the next two minutes by OUAZ made it a two-point game with :05 left in the game. The Spirit elected to foul Elzie, who knocked down a pair of free throws and make it a four-point game. A last-second 3-pointer by De'laCerda was blocked by
Straton Rogers but he picked it up for a jumper for the final margin.
The game also saw the College of Idaho outscore OUAZ, 24-12 on points in the paint and the bench for the Yotes outscore the Spirit, 24-12 in the win.
The win sends College of Idaho to the championship game for the first time since 1996 and face an Indiana Tech squad, who defeated Georgetown (Ky.), 80-71 win in the other semifinal. Tip off on ESPN3 is set for 6 p.m. (MT)/7 p.m. (CST).
