REGION 18 MEN'S, WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: NIC men hold off Snow in semis
• MEN
TWIN FALLS — In its Region 18 tournament opener, it wasn’t regional first-team selections Braian Angola-Rodas or BJ Blake that kept the 0 in the 31-0 North Idaho College men’s basketball season.
On this night, it was freshman Trey Burch-Manning’s 19 points off the bench that helped the top-seeded Cardinals hold off fourth-seeded Snow College 77-73 on Friday night on the campus of the College of Southern Idaho.
NIC (31-0), ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA, will face third-seeded Salt Lake in tonight’s regional championship game at 6:30, with the winner advancing to host a District playoff game against the winner of the Arizona regional next Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
Blake finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Angola-Rodas had 13 points for NIC, which led 40-27 at halftime.
NIC led 72-59 with 4:26 remaining, but Snow rallied to cut the deficit to 75-73. The Badgers got the ball back, but missed on a driving layup in the waning seconds. Blake hit two free throws in the final 5 seconds to ice the game for NIC, which outrebounded Snow 46-38.
London Simonsen scored 28 points in 21 minutes off the bench for Snow, which finishes 15-17.
SNOW
Nate Moore 4-8 0-2 8, Riley Panter 1-3 2-2 4, Norbert Janicek 2-7 4-6 8, JR Tailey 0-2 0-0 0, Braden Koelliker 4-10 4-4 13, Chris O’Neill 0-5 0-0 0, Jaxton Anderson 1-2 1-2 3, London Simonsen 9-13 5-6 28, Mason Rich 1-5 0-0 2, Jalon Lewis 2-5 0-0 4, Jabriel Allen 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 25-61 16-22 73.
NORTH IDAHO
Lucas Antunez 4-14 0-0 8, Braian Angola-Rodas 4-12 4-5 13, Kaleb Warner 2-2 0-0 5, Kyle Guice 1-3 0-0 3, BJ Blake 5-13 4-6 15, Sam Dowd 2-4 0-1 3, Haywood Irwin 2-2 0-1 5, Zaequan Satterhwaite 1-2 0-0 2, Trey Burch-Manning 8-11 3-4 19, Scott Turner 0-1 0-0 0, Tony Naccarato 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 29-66 13-19 77.
Halftime — NIC 40-27. 3-point goals — Snow 7-23 (Moore 0-1, Panter 0-2, Koelliker 1-4, O’Neill 0-4, Anderson 0-1, Simonsen 5-6), NIC 6-22 (Antunez 0-6, Angola-Rodas 1-4, Warner 1-1, Guice 1-3, Blake 1-5, Dowd 1-2, Irwin 1-1). Rebounds — Snow 38 (Koelliker 7), NIC 46 (Blake 10). Assists — Snow 12 (Lewis 3), NIC 8 (Dowd 3). Team fouls — Snow 24, NIC 19. Fouled out — Burch-Manning.
Salt Lake 82, Southern Idaho 60: Tyler Rawson had 17 points and 15 rebounds as the third-seeded Bruins (24-8) thumped the second-seeded Golden Eagles (22-9).
Ar’Mond Davis and UC Iroegbu scored 17 points for Southern Idaho.
• WOMEN
Salt Lake 71
North Idaho 57
TWIN FALLS — Sophomore Shelby Cloninger had 23 points and eight rebounds for the fourth-seeded Cardinals, who lost to the top-seeded Bruins in a semifinal game.
NIC finishes 21-9.
Salt Lake (30-1) will face second-seeded and tournament host Southern Idaho (27-4) in today’s championship game at 4 p.m. PST.
NIC finished the game 11 for 11 from the free throw line, all coming in the second half.
NORTH IDAHO
Maci Benedict 2-6 0-0 5, Shelby Cloninger 7-20 7-7 20, Monica Landdeck 3-9 0-0 7, Ebony Norman 2-8 0-0 5, Stormee Van Belle 3-8 2-2 8, Gracie Roberts 0-0 0-0 0, Alyssa Case 0-2 0-0 0, Jocelyn Cook-Cox 1-4 0-0 2, Grace Varcoe 2-8 2-2 7, Charity Marlatt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-65 11-11 57.
SALT LAKE
Tilar Clark 4-8 2-2 10, Iva Georgieva 4-11 5-7 13, Karina Brandon 3-5 0-0 6, Elsa Glantz 4-9 3-4 11, Ma’ata Epenisa 6-10 5-7 17, Dominique Mills 0-1 0-0 0, Andrea Brady 1-2 0-2 2, Sydnee Taylor 5-11 2-2 12. Totals 27-57 17-24 71.
North Idaho 15 12 10 20 — 57
Salt Lake 18 12 21 20 — 71
3-pointers — NIC 6-23 (Benedict 1-4, Cloninger 2-6, Landdeck 1-4, Norman 1-4, Case 0-1, Cook-Cox 0-1, Varcoe 1-3), SLCC 0-12 (Georgieva 0-5, Brandon 0-1, Glantz 0-2, Brady 0-1, Taylor 0-3). Rebounds — NIC 33 (Cloninger 8), SLCC 46 (Clark, Epenisa, Brady 8). Assists — NIC 14 (Benedict 6), SLCC 13 (Georgieva 4). Team fouls — NIC 24, SLCC 19. Fouled out — Norman.
Southern Idaho 59, Snow 48: Region 18 Player of the Year Kandiss Barber had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the second-seeded Golden Eagles (27-4) in a win over the third-seeded Badgers (20-12) in a semifinal game.
Kaitlyn Hurley had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Snow.
REGION 18 TOURNAMENT
at College of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls
Times PST
MEN
Friday
Salt Lake 82, Southern Idaho 60
North Idaho 77, Snow 73
Saturday
No. 3 Salt Lake (24-8) vs. No. 1 North Idaho (31-0), 6:30 p.m. (championship game, winner advances to host District championship game on March 5)
WOMEN
Friday
Southern Idaho 59, Snow 48
Salt Lake 71, North Idaho 57
Saturday
No. 2 Southern Idaho (27-4) vs. No. 1 Salt Lake (30-1), 4 p.m. (championship game)