NJCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: 'Tough' ending

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — In all his years coaching, North Idaho coach Corey Symons couldn’t recall a more difficult postgame.

Tuesday was supposed to be the start of redemption for the Cardinals. The genesis of taking advantage of a second chance.

The Cardinals were so close to achieving that in the second round of the NJCAA Tournament at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. The fifth-seeded Cardinals rarely trailed No. 12 Southwest Tennessee, but a late basket from Brandon Key and then a touch of controversy ended North Idaho’s season with a 73-72 loss.

“It was a tough one,” Symons said. “Obviously, we knew this season would come to an end here, whether it was like this or not. That was one of the toughest locker-room speeches I’ve given. I’m extremely disappointed for my players, but we’ll go down as one of the best teams in school history. The last tip didn’t go our way, the ball didn’t bounce our way, but you can’t take history away.”

The loss comes on the heels of North Idaho’s only other loss this season, Feb. 27 against Salt Lake. Still, North Idaho was given a second chance with an at-large bid to the tournament.

Now, about that last tip. North Idaho had a chance to win after Key’s go-ahead basket with 10.1 seconds left. The Cardinals had the ball under the Southwest Tennessee basket with 2.3 seconds left, and a timeout was called to set up the final play.

North Idaho could only muster an off-balance 3-point attempt by Lucas Antunez, but a Southwest Tennessee player leaped and grabbed the ball as it came down.

Was it goaltending? The referees huddled and had a lengthy discussion before determining the ball was not in the cylinder when it was touched.

Symons took the high road when asked about the last play.

“It was close,” Symons said. “They have great officials here. We had our chances. I put this loss on me. We had a good game plan that we got away from. I was the one who hurt us.”

The game started out not looking like it was going to be close. The Cardinals scored the game’s first 11 points.

“We came out on a run, but basketball is a game of runs,” North Idaho sophomore BJ Blake said. “We knew they’d make a run, but we may have let our foot off the gas on the defensive end.”

Southwest Tennessee settled into the game, eventually taking a 31-28 lead before North Idaho came back and led 43-40 at halftime.

Blake had five of his game-high 28 points in the final minutes of the first half. Meanwhile, North Idaho guard Braian Angola-Rodas, the team’s leading scorer at 22 points a game, struggled scoring and finished with five points.

“Rodas is a special player,” Southwest Tennessee coach Jerry Nichols said. “He averages 22 a game, but our guards played well against him. They held him to five points and five turnovers in 37 minutes. He’s definitely one of the top players in the country, so that was our focal point.”

With Southwest Tennessee leading 57-55 with less than nine minutes left, North Idaho’s Trey Burch-Manning became the go-to player. He scored eight straight Cardinal points, all of which either tied the game or gave them the lead.

“They didn’t want to zone us, and for the most part, I thought we executed well,” said Burch-Manning, who finished with 13 points and three assists. “We had a lot of good shots, a lot of scoring opportunities.”

Blake took over again late, going on a personal 6-0 run, which gave the Cardinals a 67-62 lead with 4:09 left. But the Saluqis, as they did all night, came back.

Lorenzen Wright’s free throws with 49.6 seconds left tied the game 71-71, but North Idaho reclaimed the lead when Kaleb Warner hit a free throw with 21.3 seconds left.

That set the stage for Key, who drove through the Cardinal defense and tossed in a short shot.

Seconds later, the season ended.

“I’m more upset for the guys, because I felt like I let them down,” Blake said.

Symons wanted to keep the season in perspective. It was only the fourth time North Idaho qualified for the national tournament, and the Cardinals won their first 31 games.

“I can’t wait for the call we’ll get from the (college) president in 15 years, saying ‘Your guys are going to the Hall of Fame,’” Symons said. “It’s a hard loss to swallow right now, but I have 16 brothers with me on this team.”

SOUTHWEST TENNESSEE (30-4)

Key 2-10 1-2 6, Burrll 6-11 0-0 17, McKinney 3-7 4-4 12, Wright 5-14 1-1 16, Daughtry 1-4 0-0 3, Crnogorac 0-0 0-0 0, Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Whitaker 3-6 0-1 6, Rivers 3-3 0-0 6, Watson 0-0 0-0 0, Ameri 3-4 1-1 7, Waldon 0-2 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-62 7-9 73

NORTH IDAHO (31-2)

Down 1-2 0-0 3, Antunex 2-5 0-0 4, Irwin 2-2 2-2 7, Burch-Manning 4-7 5-11 13, Blake 8-17 10-12 28, Rodas 2-8 0-0 5, Warner 0-1 1-2 1, Guice 2-4 0-0 5, Ziggy 2-2 2-4 6, Turner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-49 20-31 72

Halftime score: North Idaho 43-40. 3-point goals: Southwest Tennessee 14-41 (Burrell 5-10, Wright 5-14, McKinney 2p5, Daughtry 1-3, Key 1-5, Wilson 0-1, Whitaker 0-3). North Idaho 6-15 (Blake 2-4, Dowd 1-1, Irwin 1-1, Rodas 1-2, Guice 1-3, Burch-Manning 0-1, Antunex 0-2). Rebounds: Southwest Tennessee 29 (Waldon 5), North Idaho 36 (Guice 8). Assists: Southwest Tennessee 18 (Key 11), North Idaho 14 (Rodas 6). Turnovers: Southwest Tennessee 11, North Idaho 13. Total fouls: Southwest Tennessee 26, North Idaho 17. Fouled out: Rivers.