NIC men eliminated but women win

COEUR D’ALENE – Jared Phay paced the sidelines, hands on his waist and eyes on the Christianson Gym scoreboard as the second half ticked away.

His North Idaho men’s basketball team wasn’t hitting open shots, and as the Cardinals became more desperate for points and stops, Eastern Utah’s players maintained their poise.

That combination spelled defeat for the top-seeded Cardinals, 80-67, in the Region 18 tournament semifinals on Friday, when their season ended and Phay remained at 99 career coaching victories.

“We had a great year. For some reason, it was not our night,” said Phay, the fifth-year NIC coach. “The bottom line is that they just seemed to hit every shot.”

Their loss followed a victory for the North Idaho women, who defeated Snow College 82-66 and advanced to their third regional championship game in four seasons.

They will play the College of Southern Idaho at 5 p.m. today, followed by the men’s championship featuring fourth-seeded Eastern Utah (25-6) and No. 2 Salt Lake Community College (24-6), the defending champion.

Should Eastern Utah’s hot shooting from the semifinals spill into today’s championship game, it could give SLCC fits on defense. During the second half Friday, the Golden Eagles hit 60.9 percent of their shots, including 4 of 7 3-pointers and a series of transition layups.

“They hit some tough shots,” NIC forward Renado Parker said, “but sometimes we didn’t get back on defense, and they made us pay.”

With a 32-28 halftime lead, Eastern Utah started the second frame with an 11-4 run to push its advantage to double digits.

In an attempt to tighten the game, North Idaho (27-4) started chucking up 3-pointers and playing a full-court defense.

Neither strategy worked. Rather, the combination buried them deeper, and Eastern Utah pressed its advantage to as many as 19.

The Cardinals finished the game 4 of 22 from 3-point range and 23 of 61 from the field overall. Parker led them with 19 points and 13 rebounds, but the Golden Eagles’ balanced scoring – six of their players had at least 10 points – and 11 steals more than compensated for his inside presence.

North Idaho had been seeking its first regional title game since 1997, when it beat Eastern Utah. That was also the most recent championship game appearance for the Golden Eagles, who have never won a Region 18 tournament title.

In the first men’s semifinal, Salt Lake Community College beat the College of Southern Idaho 83-65. DJ Wright scored a game-high 26 points for SLCC, which had four players score in double figures.

Women

North Idaho held off a series of second-half runs by Snow College and advanced to today’s finals, where it will try for its first Region 18 tournament title since 1997.

After leading by as many as 17, the Cardinals let the Badgers get as close as seven points midway through the second half.

“They made four or fives runs when they scored seven or eight points just like that,” NIC coach Chris Carlson said. “As a coach, that scares the heck out of you.”

North Idaho (24-7) was able to hold off Snow College (17-14) largely because it crashed the boards so aggressively. The second-seeded Cardinals grabbed 47 rebounds – 11 more than the Badgers and 22 of them offensive – and everyone on the team collected at least one.

Kia Gibson hit 6 of 10 shots, most of them inside, for a team-high 16 points and nine rebounds.

The victory could prove bittersweet, though, should Bianca Cheever be unable to play again tonight. With about 5 minutes left, the sophomore starter dribbled past midcourt, stumbled to the floor and grabbed her right foot. She was helped off the court and didn’t return, finishing with eight points, seven assists and six steals.

Carlson said he didn’t know the severity of her injury.

In the finals, NIC faces the top-seeded College of Southern Idaho (26-4), which beat Salt Lake Community College 76-61 earlier Friday. Shauneice Samms led CSI with 22 points and 10 rebounds in that victory.

Today’s winner advances to the NJCAA nationals, March 17-21 in Salina, Kan.

Earlier this season, NIC handed CSI its only conference loss, a 59-58 defeat at Christianson Gym. Carlson downplayed any impact that may have tonight, though.

“When you get to the regional championship, all that stuff goes out the window,” Carlson said.