Lewis guides NIC men into title game

TAYLORSVILLE, Utah - After they shook off the tournament jitters, it seemed like the North Idaho College Cardinals couldn't miss.

Freshman point guard Keon Lewis had a game-high 21 points and team-high six assists as the third-seeded North Idaho Cardinals beat the second-seeded and host Salt Lake Community College Bruins 81-76 in the semifinals of the men's Region 18 basketball tournament on Friday at Bruin Arena.

"Keon was huge for us today," NIC coach Jared Phay said. "We had 11 turnovers in the first half, but only three in the second half. A lot of that was Keon making good decisions with the ball."

Salt Lake led by 11 points with 7:12 remaining in the first half en route to a 31-25 halftime lead.

NIC (24-7) responded by shooting 17 of 26 from the field in the second half and making 18 of 28 from the free-throw line. Of the eight that played for NIC, five scored in double figures.

“It was a great effort in the second half by our guys,” Phay said. “Salt was really hitting some tough shots in the first half. Once we got going, and got those tournament jitters out of the way, all it took was a couple of guys hitting some shots to get us going.”

Antoine Hosley finished with 19 points for NIC, which faces the College of Southern Idaho (28-3) tonight in the championship game. It is the Cardinals’ second trip to the title game in three years.

CSI, ranked seventh in the NJCAA, defeated Snow (23-9) 68-65 in the other semifinal.

“We’re excited,” Phay said. “We did what we needed to do today to advance and come back to battle tomorrow.”

Agustin Ambrosino scored 16 points for Salt Lake, which finished 22-9.

NIC went 1-2 against Southern Idaho, beating the Golden Eagles 75-71 in their first game on Jan. 14 in Coeur d’Alene. CSI won the next two, 69-68 at Twin Falls on Feb. 4 and in Coeur d’Alene 64-58 in overtime on Feb. 25.

NIC had won two of three from Salt Lake during the regular season, beating the Bruins 74-66 on Jan. 7 and 61-54 on Feb. 16 in Coeur d’Alene and losing at Salt Lake by 10 points on Jan. 27.

NORTH IDAHO

Antoine Hosley 6-14 6-6 19, Keon Lewis 6-14 9-0 21, Edrico McGregor 0-1 0-0 0, Petar Joksimovic 4-6 2-4 13, Kaj Sherman 4-6 2-8 10, Jordan McCloud 0-0 0-0 0, Connor White 1-4 3-4 6, Michael Middlebrooks 6-9 0-0 12. Totals 27-54 22-32 81.

SALT LAKE

Gabe Kindred 0-5 8-10 8, Agustin Ambrosino 6-8 0-0 16, Skyler Halford 3-7 0-0 8, Louis Garrett 2-9 2-5 6, Jason Cheesman 2-5 1-4 5, Darian Cartharn 4-8 1-2 11, Davis Emery 3-8 1-2 10, Jordan Bernardo 1-2 0-0 2, Jordan Rex 1-3 2-2 4, Marquis Horne 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 25-60 15-25 76.

Halftime — SLCC 31-25. 3-point goals — NIC 5-17 (Hosley 1-6, Lewis 0-3, Joksimovic 3-5, White 1-3), SLCC 11-24 (Kindred 0-2, Ambrosino 4-5, Halford 2-2, Garrett 0-1, Cartharn 2-4, Emery 3-7, Bernardo 0-1, Horne 0-2). Rebounds — NIC 35 (Sherman 11), SLCC 32 (Cheesman 9). Assists — NIC 9 (Lewis 6), SLCC 17 (Kindred 10). Team fouls — NIC 19, SLCC 25. Fouled out — Joksimovic, Kindred, Garrett.