Cardinals men fall, remain tied for fourth in SWAC

Wednesday's might be bigger for the North Idaho College men's basketball team. 

NIC (13-12, 3-7 SWAC), which fell 85-69 at College of Southern Idaho on Saturday, remained tied for the fourth and final playoff spot to the Region 18 Tournament after Salt Lake (9-14, 3-7) lost 79-68 to third-place Utah State-Eastern in Taylorsville, Utah, earlier on Saturday. 

NIC travels to Salt Lake on Wednesday. The teams split their previous matchups, each winning on their home court. 

Ajayi Simmons, a sophomore from Seattle, had 17 points and four rebounds off the bench for the Cardinals, who trailed 43-35 at halftime. 

Cooper Kesler had 27 points and eight rebounds off the bench for CSI (23-2, 9-1), which is tied with Snow (24-1, 9-1) for the conference lead. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Ne'quan Brown 4-12 3-4 11, Nyale Robinson 0-4 0-1 0, Cody Wright 3-4 1-1 8, Austin Ouko 1-9 0-0 2, Gage Ontiveros 6-10 0-2 12, Vander Brown 1-1 0-1 2, Ace Arnold 0-0 0-0 0, Ajayi Simmons 7-10 3-4 17, Cason Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Sawyr Hansen 0-1 3-4 3, Justus Haseley 3-6 2-4 10, Aly Toure 0-0 0-0 0, Jacori Ervin 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 27-61 12-21 69. 

SOUTHERN IDAHO 

Jalen Lyn 1-9 2-2 4, Ace Reiser 4-9 4-5 14, Ben Thornbrue 2-8 2-4 8, Nathan Ahner 3-8 7-8 15, Charlie Dimmock 3-6 0-1 6, Cooper Kesler 9-14 3-3 27, William Issekya 1-1 0-0 3, Kyah Farris-White 0-0 0-0 0, Kobe Kesler 0-1 0-0 0, Guygustone Kasenga 2-4 4-4 8. Totals 25-60 22-28 85. 

Halftime — CSI 43-35. 3-point goals — NIC 3-21 (N. Brown 0-5, Robinson 0-2, Wright 1-2, Ouko 0-4, Simmons 0-2, Miller 0-2, Hansen 0-1, Haseley 2-3), CSI 13-30 (Lyn 0-5, Reiser 2-4, Thornbrue 2-4, Ahner 2-5, C. Kesler 6-10, Issekya 1-1, K. Kesler 0-1). Rebounds — NIC 39 (N. Brown 7), CSI 42 (C. Kesler 8). Assists — NIC 12 (Ouko, Miller 2), CSI 14 (Reiser 5). Team fouls — NIC 23, CSI 20. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — Ontiveros, C. Kesler. 

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