Cardinal men fall, but advance to regionals

NIC, without starters Cobi Campbell and Jalen Skalskiy, fell to in-state rival Southern Idaho 92-73 on Saturday, but maintained its lead in the conference to advance to the four-team Region 18 Tournament starting Friday in Taylorsville, Utah.

"Missing two starters hurt," said NIC coach Corey Symons, who also lost Terin Johnson early in the first half due to injury. "We competed and battled hard, but just didn't shoot very well. We tried to make some runs, but I was happy with how the guys played."

NIC (21-9, 7-5 SWAC) will face top-seeded and conference champion Salt Lake on Friday in an opening round game. CSI (22-8, 9-3), the second seed, will face third-seeded Utah State-Eastern in the other opening round game.

"Our goal was to make the tournament," Symons said. "Our league is so tough that two games ago, we had a chance to win this league. It's a win for us to get to the tournament. Now, we'll see if we can make some noise next week."

Jaylon Johnson scored 16 points for CSI, which lost at NIC 91-73 on Feb. 2.

NORTH IDAHO

Terin Johnson 2-5 2-4 6, Austin Johnson 3-13 0-0 7, Vaughn Weems 8-18 5-5 24, Kyle Karstetter 1-8 2-2 4, Dante Sawyer 5-18 8-10 20, D'Andre Clermont 1-4 3-4 5, Tayshawn Colvin 1-5 2-2 4, Bryce Henry 1-3 1-2 3, Tanner Tollestrup 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 22-77 23-29 73.

SOUTHERN IDAHO

Asim Jones 4-12 1-2 Jaylon Johnson 6-13 1-1 16, Britton Berrett 1-6 0-0 2, Shahid Muhammad 5-6 3-5 13, Sam Phipps 1-3 4-4 6, Dale Griffin 0-2 0-0 0, Kasen Carpenter 4-5 0-0 12, Alan Kane 0-2 2-4 2, Jordan Hamilton 4-9 0-0 8, Cassius Carmichael 0-0 0-0 0, Isaac Hawkins 0-1 4-4 4, Walker Timme 3-5 2-4 8, Brandon Oloumou 0-0 2-2 2, Jakari Livingston 4-6 0-0 9. Totals 32-70 19-26 92.

Halftime — CSI 35-23. 3-point goals — NIC 6-25 (T. Johnson 0-1, A. Johnson 1-6, Weems 3-4, Karstetter 0-5, Sawyer 2-5, Colvin 0-2, Henry 0-1, Tollestrup 0-1), CSI 9-25 (Jones 1-5, Johnson 3-6, Berrett 0-4, Griffin 0-1, Carpenter 4-5, Kane 0-1, Hamilton 0-1, Livingston 1-2). Rebounds — NIC 48 (Weems 15), CSI 51 (Muhammad 11). Assists — NIC 5 (T. Johnson 2), CSI 12 (Jones 5). Team fouls — NIC 19, CSI 21. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — Muhammad, Timme.

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