REGION 18 MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Cardinals feel the buzz ... No. 3 Salt Lake hits 14 3-pointers in romp of NIC

TAYLORSVILLE, Utah — North Idaho College proved all season long it was more than up for each challenge following a move from the regionally-based Northwest Athletic Conference to the NJCAA’s Scenic West Athletic Conference after seven years.

On Friday, the Cardinals just lost the Battle a little too early.

Jordan Battle had a game-high 24 points, as well as five rebounds and five steals for the top-seeded Salt Lake Bruins in a 99-62 win over the fourth-seeded Cardinals in a semifinal game in the Region 18 Tournament at Bruin Arena.

Battle, a transfer from Division I Utah Valley in Orem, hit four 3-pointers early and scored 12 of Salt Lake's first 17 points. He totaled 13 points in the first half and shot 9 of 10 from the field for the game, including 5 of 6 from the 3-point line for the Bruins, who led 56-28 at halftime.

Salt Lake was 11 of 20 from the 3-point line in the first half. NIC shot 9 of 32 from the field in the first 20 minutes.

“Their whole team just shot the crap out of the ball,” Symons said. “They were 14 of 27 from the 3-point line tonight. We just ran into a buzzsaw tonight and they’re playing as good as anyone in the country right now.”

NIC, back in the Scenic West Athletic Conference for the first time since 2016 — when the Cardinals advanced to the NJCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997 — finished 21-10.

NIC was fourth in the seven-team conference. This was the second straight year only the top four teams advanced to the conference tournament.

“It’s great to be back in that league,” said Symons, in his 10th year as head coach at NIC, and 20th with the program. “Now, we realize the caliber of players in that league again. We’ve got to regroup and get back to work and recruit some guys.”

NIC's women failed to qualify for next week's women's Region 18 tournament, also at Salt Lake.

Jalen Skalskiy, a redshirt sophomore from Lakeland High, had 18 points and seven rebounds for NIC. Freshman Vaughn Weems, slowed by a knee injury earlier this week, had 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench for the Cardinals, who were without sophomore guard Cobi Campbell, who has signed with Troy (Ala.), for a second straight game due to a hip pointer.

“Our guys competed and played hard,” Symons said. “Jalen and Vaughn did a good job of putting the ball in the basket. Kyle (Karstetter) has been playing out of position most of the year as a 3, but has been a 4 or 5 most of the year. We battled, but sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way.”

Campbell had not practiced or played in two weeks, also missing the Cardinals' regular season finale at Southern Idaho last Saturday.

“He was right on that edge and was a game-time decision,” said Symons of Campbell. “It was still bothering him, so we made the decision to sit him out.”

NIC had 15 turnovers.

“They came out and put a lot of pressure on us,” Symons said. “They’re playing really good defense and doing what they need to do on the offensive end.”

Salt Lake outrebounded NIC 47-37. 

Salt Lake (28-3), ranked third in the latest NJCAA poll, will face Southern Idaho (23-8) in the championship game today at 2 p.m., with the winner advancing to a District playoff game against the Region 1 (Arizona) champion on March 16.

CSI, the second seed, beat third-seeded Utah State-Eastern of Price, Utah, 79-78 in the other semifinal.

NORTH IDAHO

Terin Johnson 1-1 2-2 4, Austin Johnson 4-12 0-0 9, Kyle Karstetter 1-12 0-0 3, Dante Sawyer 2-11 2-4 6, Jalen Skalskiy 7-15 0-0 18, Vaughn Weems 5-10 2-2 14, D’Andre Clermont 1-1 0-0 2, Tayshawn Colvin 0-2 2-2 2, Bryce Henry 0-2 4-7 4, Tanner Tollestrup 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-66 12-17 62.

SALT LAKE

Michael Folarin 2-4 0-0 4, Zaon Collins 3-3 0-0 7, Mason Bedinger 3-6 4-4 11, Jordan Battle 9-10 1-2 24, Xavier Edmonds 7-15 0-0 16, CJ Luster 4-14 3-4 13, Luke Smellie 1-1 1-4 3, Bryce Zephir 3-8 0-1 8, Coen Collier 4-6 0-0 8, Kevin Winsor 1-2 0-0 2, Preston Squire 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 38-71 9-15 99.

Halftime — SLCC 56-28. 3-point goals — NIC 8-26 (A. Johnson 1-4, Karstetter 1-7, Sawyer 0-1, Skalskiy 4-10, Weems 2-3, Henry 0-1), SLCC 14-27 (Collins 1-1, Bedinger 1-3, Battle 5-6, Edmonds 2-5, Luster 2-6, Zephir 2-3, Winsor 0-1, Squire 1-2). Rebounds — NIC 37 (Skalskiy, Weems 7), SLCC 47 (Edmonds 8). Assists — NIC 12 (A. Johnson, Sawyer, Colvin 3), SLCC 21 (Battle 5). Team fouls — NIC 11, SLCC 16. Fouled out —none.

    NIC ATHLETICS North Idaho sophomore forward Kyle Karstetter attempts to get around Salt Lake's Coen Collier in the second half of Friday's Region 18 tournament semifinal at Bruin Arena in Taylorsville, Utah.
  

    NIC ATHLETICS North Idaho sophomore forward Jalen Skalskiy goes up for a dunk during the second half of Friday's Region 18 tournament game against Salt Lake in Taylorsville, Utah.