CALDWELL, Idaho — The Walla Walla Men's Basketball team hung with the No. 12 College of Idaho Yotes, but lost its Cascade Conference opener 91-72 on Friday.

Soren Dalan led the Wolves (0-6, 0-1) with 16 points and eight rebounds. Jordan Jackson hit three 3s and finished with 14 points. Reese Snellman had 13 points and eight assists and Chike Ezeonu added 11 points.

Walla Walla shot an even 50% (29-of-58) on the day and kept the rebound margin (32-29) close, but gave up 12 offensive boards and turned the ball over 15 times.

Rey Johnston led College of Idaho (6-3, 1-0) with 23 points. Samaje Morgan had 22 points and six rebounds. Alex Germer added 16 points and Utrillo Morris finished with 11.

The Yotes, who set program records with 133 points and 23 3-pointers in the last meeting between the two teams, showed how potent of an offense they had in the second half. CI shot 21-of-30 (70%) in the final 20 minutes and finished the contest with seven 3s.

The Wolves never led, but stayed within striking distance for most of the game. College of Idaho outscored WWU by 10 over the final eight minutes of the first half and took a 12-point advantage to the break. Walla Walla cut the lead down to six with 11:21 remaining in the game before the Yotes pulled away and led by a double-digit margin over nearly the final nine minutes.

UP NEXT

Walla Walla continues conference play with a trip to La Grande, Ore. to play Eastern Oregon at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

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