Cards Lose Their Title Shot
San Jacinto men’s basketball coach Scott Gernander didn’t take North Idaho College counterpart Hugh Watson’s advice - before or during Friday’s semifinal battle at the NJCAA Tournament.
Earlier Friday, Watson visited with Gernander and gently mentioned, “I hope your ballclub loses tonight.”
When the game rolled around, NIC was furiously rallying against the second-ranked Ravens when Watson went looking for more help.
“In the final minute, he yelled down at me, ‘You got anyone who can miss a free throw?”’ Gernander recounted with a laugh.
Apparently not.
San Jacinto of Pasadena, Texas, hit 12 of its final 16 free throws to end NIC’s championship dreams with a 112-103 victory before 5,000 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
NIC (30-5) plays for third place against Tallahassee (34-2) today at 4:30 PST. No. 3 Tallahassee lost to No. 5 Indian Hills (Iowa) 98-88.
Indian Hills (37-1) and San Jacinto (36-0) determine the title at 6:15.
The Cards were slightly off their game from the outset, suffering numerous defensive lapses. NIC did a decent job defending 6-foot-6 Omar Sneed in the first half, holding him to one point.
But the sophomore forward did extensive damage in the second half. He finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
“We were all out of whack,” said NIC’s Shawn Myrick. “We couldn’t get anything going from the start. Our defense wasn’t like it usually is.
“We got behind and couldn’t catch up.”
It wasn’t Myrick’s fault. He dropped in 39 points and rattled home three 3-pointers in a 20-second span as the Cardinals closed within 107-101 with 40 seconds left.
But San Jacinto’s foul shooters rarely missed and ended the issue at the foul line.
“You can look back on a lot of things, but they were just a little better ballclub,” Watson said. “I’m as proud of these kids as any I’ve coached.” NIC appeared a step slower than normal, perhaps due to playing its third game in three days. It trailed by eight before a first-half rush, keyed by Myrick, to tie the score at 44. Bo Johnson made two foul shots to give NIC a 46-44 lead at the half.
San Jacinto quickly took over in the second half. Sneed’s three-point play gave the Ravens a 54-51 lead with 16:57 left.
Calvin Bowman had two dunks in the next minute and the margin swelled to seven.
The teams traded buckets until Myrick and Todd Myles led one final comeback. Down by 13 after another San Jacinto dunk, NIC got within eight points at 98-90 with 2:24 left.
Myrick’s 3-pointers couldn’t overcome the Ravens’ free-throw success.
“They got it inside to their big guy and they were able to kick it back out and hit the shot,” Myles said.
Myles scored 18 points and Chris Harrison had 16, but made only 2 of 15 from the floor.
The Cards never hit an offensive groove and shot 38 percent.
San Jacinto had five scorers in double figures and made 52 percent from the field. Supporting Sneeds’ 25 was William Clay’s 24. Steve Francis added 21.
Francis and Alex Scales provided many of San Jacinto’s acrobatic highlights. The two swapped alley-oop passes that led to dunks in the first half as San Jacinto led 36-28.
“We played a great team. They really break you down and they’re so quick.,” Ravens coach Gernander said. “We’re fortunate we scored a bunch, too,”
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