Cardinal basketball stumbles in debut

The NIC men’s basketball team lost their first game of the season on home court Saturday, Oct. 22 against the Seattle Mountaineers 82-76.

Top scorers for NIC included Cole Luckett with 15 points and Jordan McCloud with 13 points. Tyrell Lewis and Keon Lewis each recovered three rebounds. The Cards started off strong outscoring the Mountaineers 43 to 35 in the first half.

“We played hard and our effort was really good in the first half, but we let up a little bit after that,” said coach Jared Phay. “Overall we played together with a good team effort. We just have to pick up the intensity with our defense.”

In the second half, Seattle outscored NIC 47 to 33.

“I think overall we played OK, but we could’ve played better towards the end,” said freshman forward Jordan McCloud. “We just need to be consistent and work hard throughout the whole game. We will be better than last year’s team.”

NIC had its largest lead of the game with a 26 to 12 score in the first half. The lead changed seven times throughout the game.

Melvin Jones was the lead scorer for the Mountaineers tacking up 23 points. Seattle outscored NIC in free throw points 24 to 16.

Both teams drew even with 24 three-pointers. Seattle capitalized on points from turnovers with 18 to NIC’s eight.

The Seattle Mountaineers brought a 8-0 record going into Saturday night’s game. Their last win was a 102 to 71 victory over Trinity Western University.

“We know that the offense is going to come as long as we play solid defense,” said sophomore guard Connor White. “All year long we are going to take pride in our defense and let the offense come from there.”