Darious Walker
Boxscore
NAMPA, Idaho -
Paul Egwuonwu scored a career-high 18 points as the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team defeated The College of Idaho 78-55 tonight in the second game of the 2010 United Heritage Tip-Off Series at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.
Tonight's game marked the 190th meeting between the Canyon County rivals, the longest sports rivalry in the State of Idaho, and the second in the 2010 United Heritage Tip-Off Series. The Crusaders defeated the Coyotes 55-54 on November 9th in Caldwell and have now won three-in-a-row in the series. The College of Idaho leads the all-time series 114-76.
A new feature to the rivalry was unveiled tonight as The Mayor's Cup was awarded to the Crusaders and Nampa Mayor Tom Dale. The traveling Mayor's Cup is a new trophy that will sit in the office of the mayor, representing the victor of the most recent NNU-C of I men's basketball contest. Caldwell Mayor Garret Nancolas accompanied Mayor Dale in the trophy presentation.
Egwuonwu, who scored the first six points of the game for the Crusaders, led a trio of NNU players in double-figures as
Drew Eisinger added 16 and
Darious Walker came off the bench to score 12 and grab six rebounds.
"Our inside guys really played well tonight," commented NNU head coach Tim Hills. "Paul, Brian (Barkdoll) on the 'boards, and Darious (Walker) on the offensive glass really made the difference."
NNU led by two with 11:42 to play in the half after a Kelly McCarty jumper for the Coyotes made it 12-10. The Crusaders would hit three three-pointers over the next four minutes to construct an 11-4 run and lead by nine at 23-14 with 7:41 to go.
C of I answered with a 6-0 spurt after baskets by McCarty, Bryden Benke, and a pretty drive down the middle of the paint with 6:58 to play in the first half by Matt Ballenger cut the margin to 23-20.
and
Joey Wayman, a lay-in by
Drew Eisinger, and six points from
Darious Walker.
Leading 37-22 at the break, NNU opened the second-half with a quick 7-0 run on a
Drew Eisinger triple, and two buckets in the paint from
Brian Barkdoll and Egwuonwu, making it 44-24 with 16:20 to play.
NNU would push the lead to as many as 34 (69-35, 7:51) as the Crusaders hit four second-half three-pointers and finished the game nine-of-27 from the three-point line.
"It was nice to see us shoot it a little better tonight," Hills added. "Drew found his spots tonight and some guys came off the bench to really add a spark to our offense."
McCarty led the Coyotes (3-8) with 10 points and four assists and Ballenger led the rebounding effort with five. Steve Peres added eight points and both Benke and J.J. Baisch scored seven. The Coyotes played tonight's game as an exhibition game, while it was a counting game for the Crusaders.
NNU out-rebounded the Coyotes 38-22, paced by
Brian Barkdoll who scored five points and posted a game-high 11 rebounds. The Crusaders committed only eight turnovers against 15 assists, led by
Jamie Eisinger with four points, four assists, and three rebounds.
NNU shot 46.7-percent (28-60) from the floor and 33-percent (9-of-27) from the three-point line. The Coyotes were 22-of-48 (45.8-percent) from the field and 23.1-percent (3-of-13) from the arc.
Both teams will return to the Johnson Sports Center this weekend to play in the NNU-C of I Holiday Classic, hosted by the Crusaders. The C of I will face Walla Walla University on Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. and the Crusaders will face the University of Montana Western at 7:00 p.m.
