University of North Carolina Athletics
Sun Kings Defeat University Of Idaho, 80-57
November 3, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 3, 2000
MOSCOW, Idaho - The Yakima (Wash.) Sun Kings kicked off the Continental Basketball Association's Inaugural College Tour with an 80-57 exhibition road victory over the University of Idaho at Memorial Gym on Thursday.
Rosell Ellis paced Yakima with 17 points (7-8 FG), while Carlos Daniel chipped in with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and David Vanterpool added 16 points, seven boards and seven assists. The game was the first of four for the defending CBA-champion Sun Kings, who next travel to Spokane, Wash., for a game with Gonzaga University on Saturday. The tour wraps up with meetings at the University of North Carolina (Nov. 6) and the University of South Alabama (Nov. 8).
"On the College Tour, I think we know what to expect now," said Sun Kings coach Paul Woolpert. "I don't know what they expected from us, but they outplayed us in terms of hustle plays."
Yakima missed seven of its first eight shots, but bounced back to shoot 54.1 percent for the game, while the Vandals managed only 35.7 percent. Idaho trailed by only eight, 43-35, at halftime, thanks to some hot three-point shooting (7 of 11) before the break. A tired Idaho club cooled off from behind the arc (2 for 13) in the second half.
"I think the game was a little too long for us," said Idaho coach Dave Farrar. "When they've got a deeper, stronger, bigger team, the longer you play, the better they're going to do. In short doses, we could contort the game and do some things to our advantage, but we couldn't do it for 40 minutes times five players, and that was our biggest problem."
Junior forward Matt Gerschefske led the way for the Vandals with 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 from three-point range.
Woolpert added that the opening game for the exhibition series was the first step toward bringing more recognition to the league. "I imagine there were a lot of big time hoop fans at this game who had never heard of the CBA," he said.
The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Hoops begin their five-game leg of the tour on Saturday at Mississippi State University. The schedule also includes trips to Duke and the University of Michigan.
