Cardinals close out Arizona tourney with win

THATCHER, Ariz. — It took a few minutes, but North Idaho College got it going when it mattered most on Saturday. 

Ace Arnold, a freshman from Simi Valley, Calif., scored 14 points off the bench for the Cardinals, who beat Cochise College of Douglas, Ariz., 70-58 on the final day of the Eastern Arizona Gila Monster Shootout on Saturday. 

Cason Miller, a freshman from Lake City High, had eight points, six rebounds and six assists in his first college start for NIC. Jacori Ervin, a sophomore from North Central High in Spokane, had nine points and 10 rebounds for NIC (6-1). 

"We had a couple of guys late for the bus, so I benched them," NIC coach Corey Symons said. "Cason stepped in and had an unbelievable game. They were pressing him and it took us a while to get used to that lineup, but we got settled in and pushed away in the second half." 

NIC outscored Cochise 38-28 in the second half. 

NIC (6-2) hosts Miles Community College on Dec. 5.

Cochiese is 6-2. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Ne'quan Brown 3-8 1-2 7, Ajayi Simmons 2-4 1-2 7, Cason Miller 2-6 2-2 8, Justus Haseley 2-6 0-0 4, Jacori Ervin 4-5 1-1 9, Nyale Robinson 4-5 0-0 10, Ace Arnold 5-10 0-0 14, Austin Ouko 2-5 0-0 5, Sawyr Hansen 0-4 0-0 0, Gage Ontiveros 0-1 0-0 0, Aly Toure 3-5 0-1 6. Totals 27-59 5-8 70. 

COCHISE  

Jhace Johnson 4-15 0-0 9, Naeem Colston 1-2 2-2 4, Emmanuel Jo Samuel 3-15 3-3 10, Gabriel Grant 3-5 0-0 6, Teron Murray 4-8 2-3 10, Deandre Hawthorne 0-1 0-0 0, Davon Jones 2-7 1-2 5, Jeremy Caliixte-Bea 1-1 0-0 2, Devin Falk-Ramirez 2-7 0-0 6, Gabriel Toribio 2-3 0-1 6. Totals 22-64 8-11 58. 

Halftime — NIC 32-30. 3-point goals — NIC 11-30 (Brown 0-3, Simmons 2-4, Miller 2-5, Haseley 0-2, Robinson 2-3, Arnold 4-8, Ouko 1-4, Hansen 0-1), CC 6-27 (Johnson 1-6, Samuel 1-7, Murray 0-3, Jones 0-3, Falk-Ramirez 2-5, Toribio 2-3). Rebounds — NIC 43 (Ervin 10), CC 26 (Colston 7). Assists — NIC 13 (Miller 6), CC 14 (Johnson 6). Team fouls — NIC 11, CC 7. Fouled out — none. 

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