After beating Colorado Northwestern Community College Feb. 27 in the opening round of the Scenic West Athletic Conference tournament, the third-seeded North Idaho College mens basketball team fell to the Salt Lake Community College Bruins the next day at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, ending the Cardinals’ season.
Second-seeded Salt Lake went on to beat top-seeded and tenth-ranked College of Southern Idaho in the championship game.
NIC defeated Colorado Northwestern 58-53. The Cardinals rallied from a 6-0 deficit to start the game and led at halftime 30-20. Colorado Northwestern’s point guard, Ivan Sifuentes, was lost to injury two minutes into the game. The Spartans kept it close in the second half but NIC stayed just enough ahead to capture the win.
“They played really well without him (Sifuentes),” NIC head coach Jared Phay said. “We just didn’t shoot it very well that game but we played really hard and found a way to win.”
Phay said his team’s “defensive effort” played a key role in the victory.
NIC’s Shikei Blake paced the Cardinals with 16 points and Braxton Tucker scored 10 points, all of them coming in the first half. Leonard Hurst led the Spartans with 11 points.
Salt Lake, which beat NIC all three times in the regular season, beat the Cardinals for a fourth time in the second round of the tournament on Feb. 28 with the score 89-72.
“We didn’t shoot it well and Salt Lake, they played really well,” Phay said. “They’ve been a very dominant team ever since they came up to our place that last home game that we played them.”
Salt Lake led 38-24 at halftime. Neal Monson scored 21 points for the Bruins. Will Dorsey led the Cardinals with 19 points, followed by Bryce Leavitt with 18 and Blake with 13.
NIC finished the season with a 21-11 record.
Leavitt was named to the Region 18 first team, Tucker earned second team honors and Dorsey earned honorable mention.
“As a coach, you’re always proud when your guys make an all-conference team,” Phay said.
Besides sophomores Jason Wheelock, Nate Rathbun and Leavitt, the rest of the Cardinal basketball team is eligible to return next season. Tucker is verbally committed to Portland State University.
Salt Lake beat CSI 62-49 in the SWAC championship game March 1 and will advance to nationals after routing 22nd-ranked Mesa Community College 75-59 March 8 at Salt Lake Community College. The NJCAA national tournament will be in Hutchinson, Kan., March 17-22.
