Cardinals fall at Utah State-Eastern, drop to third in SWAC heading into final weekend

PRICE, Utah — Entering the day tied for second with the College of Southern Idaho, North Idaho College shot 21 of 62 (33.9%) from the field in an 89-66 loss to Utah State-Eastern in Scenic West Athletic Conference play Saturday afternoon.

Vaughn Weems, a freshman from Federal Way, Wash., had 20 points and six steals off the bench for NIC (21-8, 7-4 SWAC), which dropped to third in the conference. Snow (21-6, 6-5) and Utah State-Eastern (18-8, 6-5) are tied for fourth heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

NIC travels to CSI (21-8, 8-3), which is in sole possession of second after the Golden Eagles' 79-67 win over Snow in Ephraim, Utah, on Saturday.

Salt Lake (26-3, 9-2) remains atop the conference after beating Southern Nevada (3-21, 1-11) on Saturday.

The top four teams in the conference advance to the Region 18 tournament March 8-9 at the site of the SWAC champion.

Dante Sawyer added 14 points for NIC.

Martell Williams, a sophomore transfer from Southern Utah, had 33 points and nine rebounds for Utah State-Eastern.

NORTH IDAHO

Austin Johnson 3-8 4-4 11, Cobi Campbell 0-5 2-4 2, Kyle Karstetter 3-6 0-1 9, Dante Sawyer 5-15 4-6 14, Jalen Skalskiy 1-7 0-0 2, Terin Johnson 1-3 3-4 5, Vaughn Weems 7-11 5-9 20, D'Andre Clermont 0-0 0-0 0, Tayshawn Colvin 0-4 1-2 1, Bryce Henry 1-1 0-0 2, Tanner Tollestrup 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-62 19-30 66.

UTAH STATE-EASTERN

Terrian Roy 2-4 0-0 5, Sheldon Romirell 1-3 0-0 3, Jack Jamele 2-7 0-0 5, Dyson Lighthall 5-7 0-0 10, Martel Williams 13-21 3-4 33, Trace Ross 1-2 2-2 5, Ethan Copeland 5-12 3-3 16, Brady Arbon 3-4 0-0 6, Ryker Richards 1-2 2-3 4, Kendall Alexander 0-1 0-0 0, Taft Mitchell 0-2 2-4 2. Totals 33-65 12-16 89.

Halftime — USUE 48-33. 3-point goals — NIC 5-20 (A. Johnson 1-4, Campbell 0-4, Karstetter 3-4, Sawyer 0-2, Skalskiy 0-3, Weems 1-1, Colvin 0-1, Tollestrup 0-1), USUE 11-26 (Roy 1-2, Romirell 1-3, Jamele 1-4, Williams 4-6, Ross 1-2, Copeland 3-9). Rebounds — NIC 35 (Skalskiy 6), USUE 48 (Lighthall, Williams 7). Assists — NIC 7 (Campbell 3), USUE 13 (Copeland 3). Team fouls — NIC 14, USUE 25. Fouled out — Jamele. Technical fouls — Weems, NIC team.

To view the full article, please visit the CDA Press at this link.