CALDWELL, Idaho – The "First-Time-Ever" hyperbole might start to get old at some point for the NCU men's basketball team, but the historic 2015-2016 season kept rolling along on Saturday night with a 72-62 road victory over The College of Idaho. The victory gave NCU their first ever road sweep of C of I and Eastern Oregon, was Head Coach Luke Jackson's first win in Caldwell, and lifted the Beacons to equal their highest conference win total in school history.
 
Ranked No. 10 in the NAIA national coaches' poll, NCU won for the 11th time in a row, maintaining a one-game lead in the Cascade Conference standings. NCU improved to 18-4 overall and 11-1 in CCC action.
 
"This was a great team win tonight in front of a very hostile crowd," said Jackson. "We made a lot of winning plays and we made stops when we needed to. Jordan Alexander, Nick Sullivan, and Donta Harris all played great for us off the bench."
 
The Coyotes (13-9, 8-5) hung tough throughout, opening a 25-19 lead on a Joey Nebeker tip-in with just over eight minutes remaining in the opening half.  NCU clamped down defensively the rest of the period, holding C of I to 1-of-9 shooting the rest of frame.  Javonte Byrd canned back-to-back triples and Omar Richards (pictured) followed with another to give the visitors a 30-25 lead.  Richard added two buckets and Byrd drained a long 3-pointer to cap the period, giving NCU a 42-29 lead at the break.
 
The lead grew to 46-32 on a Jay Mayernik lay-up early in the second half, but the Yotes would try to mount a comeback.  C of I cut the margin to eight points on three occasions, the last at 59-51 on one of five second half Dominique Jordan 3-pointers, but could not get closer.
 
The Beacons were led by Richards, scoring 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field. Byrd scored 22, shooting 6-for-10 from three-point range, and Mayernik finished with ten points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
Jordan led the Yotes with 17 points and Nebeker followed with 14 over two games this season, C of I's leading scorer totaled 18 points on 5-for-24 shooting and just one three-pointer. Aitor Zubizarreta was also in double-figures in the loss. The Spaniard had ten points in the opening five minutes of the game but finished with just 12.
 
NCU will look to keep their winning streak alive on Tuesday when rival Corban University pays a visit at 7:30 pm.