The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT March 2, 2013
For as much as the month of March is talked about for its “madness” in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, those that weren’t on hand for Friday’s semifinal in the Region 18 men’s basketball tournament should be well-versed in the subject by now.
FOR AS big of a win as it was for the Snow Badgers to upset No. 2-seeded North Idaho College on Friday afternoon, it might have been even a bigger bounce back in the final eight minutes by NIC.
Trailing by 18 points, NIC fought back, basket by basket until tying the game with under three minutes remaining.
The rally however, came up a little short — leaving the Cardinals unsure of their NJCAA tournament chances.
“It’s tough, it’s tough,” NIC guard Chris Sarbaugh said. “I think we’ve played well, but had some really stupid, bad losses that could really wind up hurting us. I think we’ve got a chance, but it’s not good right now.”
NIC had beaten Snow the previous three times entering Friday’s game — including an 84-77 win in overtime on Jan. 24.
“It’s tough to beat a team four straight times,” NIC coach Jared Phay said. “You work all year for the bye, but I think it might have wound up hurting us. They (Snow) got their jitters out yesterday (Thursday) against Colorado Northwestern and we played the first half with ours.”
FRIDAY’S GAME had all the makings of a classic college basketball game — late rally, dunks and a raucous home crowd.
“That was sweet,” said Sarbaugh, who transferred from Gonzaga at the start of the school year. “I would have never expected that when I came here. The whole season, I kept getting surprised by new things. To have all those fans for a 2 o’clock game, that was unreal. I didn’t think anyone was going to be here and it really energized us. I’m really happy I got to play here. It was a really nice experience.”
In the women’s semifinal between Salt Lake and NIC, the Cardinals held the Bruins to 11 field goals in a 24-point win.
“They’re a really good team,” Salt Lake coach Betsy Specketer said. “It’s really hard here when they get rolling to counter that. We needed to play better on the offensive end and I felt that if we kept it close, I thought we had a chance, but when they extended the lead, it was tough to keep up.”
To Specketer, win or lose tonight — she thinks the NIC women should be one of the teams in the field for the NJCAA tournament in Salina, Kan., starting on March 18.
“For a team like them, that has done everything they’re supposed to do, if they get tripped up in a championship game, they’re protected,” said Specketer of an at-large bid. “I hope they do (get to nationals), and if anything should happen that they don’t win, I’d be shocked if they didn’t get to nationals.”
Fans will have to wait for the women’s championship game tonight at 5 to see what happens next at Rolly Williams Court.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].