REGION 18 BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTS: NIC men to play for title
Cardinals bump off Salt Lake, will face CSI and ex-NIC coach Phay in championship game
PRICE, Utah - In two of its three matchups with the Salt Lake Bruins, the North Idaho College men's basketball team had lost the fight on the boards, and the game in all three.
But that fourth time - the Cardinals took the fight on the boards - and the game.
Austin Pope had 18 points and nine rebounds and Braian Angola-Rodas had 10 points and 12 rebounds, leading the third-seeded Cardinals past the second-seeded Bruins 85-79 in a semifinal game in the Region 18 tournament on Friday at Utah State-Eastern.
"It's big for our guys," first-year NIC coach Corey Symons said. "We've got a great group of guys and we love them and we're happy for them. They battled through some adversity, and came out with a chip on their shoulders. Even when we got behind and got down, they came to the bench saying 'we're going to win this.' They still played with a chip on their shoulders with the lead. It was a big win for us."
NIC (24-7) will face Southern Idaho (29-2) tonight in the championship game at 6:30 PST. CSI is coached by Jared Phay, who coached at NIC for 10 years before leaving for CSI in May.
"It's fun," Symons said. "We're pulling for him when they're not playing us and he was at our game rooting for us. It will be awesome to have an all-Idaho regional title game."
NIC handed CSI one of its two losses Feb. 7 in Twin Falls.
On Friday, NIC jumped out to a 42-30 halftime lead, holding Salt Lake to 7-of-29 shooting while going 15 of 38 in the first half.
"We played well," Symons said. "We came out hot and got out to a good lead. We took the lead with three minutes left, then had to start clawing to keep the lead."
NIC outrebounded Salt Lake 52-33.
"Coach (Jeff) Johnson did a great scout on them," Symons said. "We'd lost the rebounding battle in each of the last three games with them. We were preaching rebounding and got them 52-33, which was huge. Braian and Austin, two guards for us, were at or near double figures and they were big tonight. It was huge for us to win the boards and the guys played really well."
DeSean Parsons scored 19 points for Salt Lake (25-6).
NORTH IDAHO
Jamaal Robateau 5-12 3-3 16, Braian Angola-Rodas 4-12 2-2 10, Fuquan Niles 3-5 0-1 6, Kyle Guice 0-4 2-2 2, Austin Pope 6-16 4-5 18, Lucas Antunez 0-0 0-0 0, D'Adrian Allen 2-3 2-2 6, Jordan King 5-10 4-4 16, Charlie Lockwood 1-1 0-0 2, Ty Higbie 3-6 2-3 9. Totals 29-69 19-22 85.
SALT LAKE
Gibson Johnson 3-9 0-2 6, DeSean Parsons 6-12 5-10 19, CJ Spjute 1-3 0-0 3, Zerrion Payton 2-5 4-5 8, Blake Wilkinson 1-3 2-2 4, LaBrian Shiflet 2-9 4-5 9, Marcus White 2-9 5-7 9, Larry Okhomina 1-1 0-2 2, Brandon Morley 3-4 4-5 10, Tad Dufelmeier 3-5 0-0 9. Totals 24-60 24-38 79.
Halftime - NIC 42-30. 3-point goals - NIC 8-29 (Robateau 3-9, Angola-Rodas 0-4, Guice 0-2, Pope 2-5, King 2-6, Higbie 1-3), SLCC 7-23 (Johnson 0-2, Parsons 2-5, Spjute 1-3, Payton 0-1, Shiflet 1-6, White 0-2, Dufelmeier 3-4). Rebounds - NIC 52 (Angola-Rodas 12), SLCC 33 (Johnson 10). Assists - NIC 15 (Pope 6), SLCC 13 (Payton 6). Team fouls - NIC 28, SLCC 20. Fouled out - Johnson.
REGION 18 TOURNAMENTS
At Utah State-Eastern
Price, Utah
Times PST
Friday's Games
North Idaho 85, Salt Lake 79
Southern Idaho 75, Snow 62
Saturday's Game
Championship
No. 3 North Idaho (24-7) vs. No. 1 Southern Idaho (29-2), 6:30 p.m.
Friday's Games
Southern Idaho 72, Snow 63
Salt Lake 62, Utah State-Eastern 59
Saturday's Game
Championship
No. 2 Southern Idaho (20-11) vs. No. 1 Salt Lake (26-5), 4 p.m.
ALL SCENIC WEST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE TEAMS
Coach of the Year - Jared Phay, Southern Idaho
First team
Fredrick Edmond, Southern Idaho (co-Player of the Year); DeSean Parsons, Salt Lake (co-Player of the Year); Walter Wright, Snow; Braian Angola-Rodas, North Idaho; Keonta Vernon, Southern Idaho; TerryLee Wedgeworth, Colorado Northwestern; Blake Wilkinson, Salt Lake.
Second team
Brandon Morley, Salt Lake; Tyson Smith, Southern Idaho; Gentrey Thomas, Snow; Austin Pope, North Idaho; Jamaal Robateau, North Idaho.
Honorable mention
Shaq Carr, Southern Idaho; Zerrion Payton, Salt Lake; Hamdi Karoui, Utah State-Eastern; Larenz Stalcup, Snow; Philip Winston, Utah State-Eastern; Abdoulaye Harouna, Southern Idaho; Jordan King, North Idaho.
Coach of the Year - Betsy Specketer, Salt Lake.
First team
Cassidy Whitney, Salt Lake (Player of the Year); Raushan Gultekin, Salt Lake; Kara Staggs, North Idaho; Bryanna Adams, Utah State-Eastern; Samantha Lubcke, Southern Idaho; Kaitlyn Hurley, Snow.
Second team
Holly Blades, Southern Idaho; Monica Landdeck, North Idaho; Whitney Saunders, Snow; Clarissa Sabedra, Salt Lake; Elisabet Lopez-Sagrera, Southern Idaho; Jamie Smith, Utah State-Eastern.
Honorable mention
Jamie Revels, Colorado Northwestern; Caroline Fischer, Utah State-Eastern; Denajha Kie, Southern Idaho; Panisesi Taimani, North Idaho; Savannah Park, Snow.
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