Cardinal men get in zone, run past Williston State

WILLISTON, N.D. — In a zone now, North Idaho College is beginning to find what makes it tick on the basketball court. 

NIC made 37 of 68 shots, running away with a 94-73 win against Williston State on Saturday night. 

"We're starting to find our identity," NIC coach Corey Symons said. "We really focused on our zone defense and we've played our best two games of the season back-to-back. It has really fueled our offense and we've been getting some stops on defense. We've been trying to figure out what we're good at and the guys really bought into this weekend's gameplan." 

Sophomore Vaughn Weems had 34 points and nine rebounds for NIC (4-3), which hosts Casper (Wyo.) in its home opener on Thursday. 

Freshman Deng Diew scored 19 points for the Cardinals off the bench. 

"Deng is an unbelievable player, but he's trying to find his role with the team," Symons said. "It was great to see him have a breakout game for us tonight." 

Williston State is 4-3. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Vaughn Weems 12-21 8-10 34, Ne'quan Brown 3-8 0-0 7, Tayshawn Colvin 0-2 0-0 0, Tautoko Wynyard 2-2 0-0 4, Bryce Henry 0-0 0-0 0, Deng Diew 8-13 1-2 19, Dace Pleasant 6-9 0-0 16, Mehmet Bener 0-2 2-4 2, Sam Marbury 4-8 0-0 8, Romell Russell 0-0 0-0 0, Jacori Ervin 2-2 0-0 4, Ajayi Simmons 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 37-68 11-16 94. 

WILLISTON STATE 

Wil Olson 4-9 0-0 9, Tyson Enget 0-1 0-0 0, Ian Johnson 3-5 0-0 7, Mekhi Marks 1-2 0-0 3, Rex Stirling 9-17 5-10 23, Richard Massey 0-2 0-0 0, Josiah McDonald 8-13 0-0 19, Carter Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Ajoydeji Iwaro 0-0 0-0 0, Eden Hobbs 2-4 0-0 4, Benjamin Yombi 1-7 0-0 3, Freedom Leon 2-2 1-1 5. Totals 30-63 6-11 73. 

Halftime — NIC 52-41. 3-point goals — NIC 9-18 (Weems 2-5, Brown 1-3, Diew 2-3, Pleasant 4-6, Bener 0-1), WSC 7-25 (Olson 1-6, Johnson 1-2, Marks 1-2, Massey 0-1, McDonald 3-8, Smith 0-1, Yombi 1-5). Rebounds — NIC 34 (Weems 9), WSC 25 (Stirling 5). Assists — NIC 16 (Weems, Marbury 5), WSC 17 (Enget 5). Team fouls — NIC 8, WSC 12. Fouled out — none.  

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