Cardinals teams fall at Salt Lake; Region 18 tourney next

| February 22, 2015 8:00 PM

TAYLORSVILLE, Utah - Redshirt freshman guard Jamaal Robateau scored a team-high 18 points, hitting three 3-pointers, but North Idaho College lost a close Scenic West Athletic Conference game, 82-78, to Salt Lake Community College, in the regular season finale for both teams Saturday.

"We came out really flat and got down 16 early in the first half," NIC coach Corey Symons said. "It took us all game to claw our way out. We played a little tougher in the second half, fought a little more."

Salt Lake (24-4, 12-2 SWAC) took a 43-32 halftime lead.

Lucas Antunez came off the bench to score 13 points, while Braian Angola-Rodas and Jordan King each scored 10 points for the Cardinals (22-7, 9-6). Fuquan Niles added eight points and seven rebounds, who as the No. 3 seed will play at 2 p.m. on Thursday against No. 6 seed Utah State-Eastern (11-16, 2-13) in the Region 18 tournament at Utah State University-Eastern in Price, Utah. No. 4 Snow (17-13, 6-9) faces No. 5 Colorado Northwestern (8-22, 2-13) in Thursday's other first-round game.

LaBrian Shiflet scored 21 points to pace Salt Lake, which is the No. 2 seed and has a first-round bye, as does No. 1 seed Southern Idaho (28-2, 13-2).

NORTH IDAHO

Jamaal Robateau 5-13 5-7 18, Braian Angola-Rodas 3-7 3-5 10, Fuquan Niles 2-5, 4-4 8, Kyle Guice 1-5 0-0 3, Austin Pope 3-9 1-2 7, Lucas Antunez 4-8 3-4 13, Marcus Harris 2-5 0-0 5, D'Adrian Allen 0-3 1-2 1, Jordan King 4-4 2-3 10, Ty Higbie 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 25-62 19-27 78.

SALT LAKE

Gibson Johnson 4-6 0-0 11, DeSean Parsons 3-8 6-6 13, CJ Spjute 2-4 1-2 7, Zerrion Payton 2-8 2-4 6, Blake Wilkinson 2-6 1-5 5, LaBrian Shiflet 6-8 4-4 21, Marcus White 0-3 0-0 0, Larry Okhomina 0-0 0-0 0, Brandon Morley 5-6 6-8 16, Tad Dufelmeier 0-1 3-4 3. Totals 24-50, 23-33 82.

Halftime - SLCC 43-32. 3-point goals - NIC 9-25 (Robateau 3-8, Angola-Rodas 1-2 , Guice 1-3, Pope 0-2, Antunez 2-4, Harris 1-4, Higbie 1-2). Rebounds - NIC 29 (Niles 7), SLCC 39 (Johnson 8). Assists - NIC 12 (Pope 3). Team fouls - NIC 24, SLCC 19. Fouled out - Guice, Allen.

* WOMEN

Salt Lake 62

North Idaho 53

TAYLORSVILLE, Utah - Monica Landdeck scored 16 points and drilled four 3-pointers, but the Cardinals fell behind big at halftime and never caught up, losing to the Bruins in the Scenic West and regular season finale.

Panisesi Taimani scored 10 points and had six rebounds for NIC (18-12, 6-9), who as the No. 5 seed plays Thursday against No. 4 Utah State-Eastern (19-9, 8-7) in the first round of the Region 18 tournament at Price, Utah.

Salt Lake, the top seed in the tournament, improved to 25-5 (13-2). Cassidy Whitney scored 13 points and had 11 rebounds for the Bruins. Salt Lake and Southern Idaho (19-11, 10-5) have first-round byes. No. 3 Snow (20-8, 8-7) faces Colorado Northwestern (6-19, 0-12) in Thursday's other first-round game.

NORTH IDAHO

Katie King 3-3 0-0 8, Bailey Schroeder 0-2 0-2 0, Kara Staggs 2-10 1-2 5, Monica Landdeck 5-9 2-2 16, Panisesi Taimani 4-11 2-5 10, Samara Hill 0-1 0-0 0, Maci Benedict 0-3 0-0 0, Ryleigh Swagerty 2-7 0-0 5, Sabrina Earle 2-3 0-0 5, Caitlyn Behymer 0-1 0-0 0, Grace Varcoe 2-2 0-2 4. Totals 20-52 5-13 53.

SALT LAKE

Raushan Gultekin 5-11 4-4 15, Cassidy Whitney 4-6 4-9 13, Clarissa Sabedra 3-8 1-1 7, Shelby Richards 4-7 3-5 12, Tanesha Daniels 1-5 0-0 4, Rachel VanderToolen 0-0 0-1 0, Caroline Lantor 0-0 0-0 0, Elsa Paulsson Glantz 2-5 4-4 9, Ashlynn Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Ma'ata Epenisa 0-2 3-4 3, Tara Goldman 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 19-45 20-30

Halftime - SLCC 32-20. 3-point goals - NIC 8-20 (King 2-2, Staggs 0-3, Landdeck 4-7, Taimani 0-1, Hill 0-1, Benedict 0-2, Swagerty 1-3, Earle 1-1). Rebounds - NIC 33 (Varcoe 7), SLCC 36 (Whitney 11). Assists - NIC 15 (Staggs 6), SLCC 9 (Gultekin (4). Team fouls - NIC 23, SLCC 14. Fouled out - None.