Box Score
The Lower Columbia men's basketball team was faced with a decision. Lose interest and get blown out or fight hard and never give up.

The team chose the "never say die" route.

The North Idaho Cardinals came out with big intensity and finished strong in an 86-69 victory over LCC in the NWAC Sweet 16 round at Everett College on late Saturday night March 10th.

An intense NIC defense from the start knocked the Devils back on their heels.  North Idaho led 42-21 at the half and at one time had a 28 point lead before LCC mounted a second half comeback.  The Devils got within eight points with just under three minutes left, but the Cardinals took advantage of two costly turnovers and were able to collect the victory.

RayQuan Evans was outstanding for the Cards, leading the way with 27 points.

Brandon Cotton led LCC with 17 points.  The Cardinals made it a point to harass the Devil point guard at the outset.  Cotton didn't fold and stayed with it, leading the Devil comeback.

Spencer Sweet also was an obvious target of the NIC defense.  He scored 12 points in his final LCC game. He had two points taken off the board on an obvious Cardinal goal tend call that was missed by the officiating crew.

Kyle Daughtery was also playing in his final Red Devil game and he provided 10 points and seven rebounds.

Redshirt freshman Wesley Gilbert also played very tough as ended up with 10 points and nine rebounds.  Donald Scott had eight points, four boards and three steals.

It was a disappointing end to the season but head coach Mickey Polis was proud of his team.  "We needed to come out and play our A-game tonight against a very good North Idaho team and unfortunately that didn't happen. We had too many TO's and gave up too many points around the rim. The lead swelled up and we just didn't have enough time to come back. Our guys fought hard the whole game and played with a tremendous amount of heart. I'm proud of their effort and how they represented our school and program."

 

The Devils finish the season 20-9 in Polis first year as the head coach.

It was the 38th NWAC Championship tournament appearance for Lower Columbia, the most of any school in history.