Cardinal men fall in home finale

COEUR d'ALENE — North Idaho College missed a game-winning 3-pointer with one second remaining as the visiting Utah State-Eastern Eagles of Price, Utah, defeated the Cardinals 72-71 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference finale for both programs at Rolly Williams Court on Saturday. 

"We had a shot to win it, got an offensive rebound and had a shot that didn't fall for us," NIC coach Corey Symons said. "But I really like where we're going heading into the tournament. The guys came out and competed and had a chance to win it. We just fell a little short."

The result did not affect NIC's seeding for this week's Region 18 Tournament in Twin Falls.

NIC (16-14, 6-9 SWAC) will be seeded fourth and face top seed College of Southern Idaho (28-2, 14-1) in the semifinals Friday at 6:30 p.m. PST. CSI beat Snow 71-66 on Saturday in Twin Falls to capture the conference title and host the tournament.

Utah State-Eastern (22-8, 9-6) will be the third seed to regionals and face second-seeded Snow (27-3, 12-3) in the other semifinale. The championship game is next Saturday at 2 p.m. 

Ne'quan Brown, a sophomore from Tacoma, Wash., and Ajayi Simmons, a sophomore from Seattle, had 20 points each for NIC.  

Ike Palmer scored 24 points for Utah State-Eastern. 

UTAH STATE-EASTERN 

Ike Palmer 9-15 6-9 24, Liam Davis 3-10 2-2 8, Robbie Yates 3-8 4-5 13, Bowen Davies 1-5 1-1 3, Isaac Castagnetto 3-7 2-2 9, Kayin Turner 3-4 0-0 7, Adam Grissom 1-2 0-0 2, Weston Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Easton Duft 0-0 0-0 0, Ethen Stoddard 2-3 2-2 6. Totals 25-55 17-21 72. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Ne'quan Brown 6-11 6-8 20, Vander Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Ajayi Simmons 9-19 1-2 20, Austin Ouko 5-15 2-2 16, Jacori Ervin 1-2 0-0 2, Nyale Robinson 1-5 0-0 3, Ace Arnold 0-3 3-3 3, Cody Wright 0-2 0-0 0, Cason Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Sawyr Hansen 0-0 0-0 0, Gage Ontiveros 1-3 0-0 2, Justus Haseley 0-0 0-0 0, Aly Toure 1-2 3-6 5. Totals 24-63 15-21 71. 

Halftime — USE 40-33. 3-point goals — USE 5-15 (Palmer 0-2, Davis 0-2, Yates 3-7, Castagnetto 1-2, Turner 1-2), NIC 8-32 (N. Brown 2-5, Simmons 1-8, Ouko 4-11, Robinson 1-3, Arnold 0-3, Wright 0-1, Miller 0-1). Rebounds — USE 24 (Yates 5), NIC 45 (Simmons 9). Assists — USE 8 (Palmer, Turner 3), NIC 9 (N. Brown, Robinson 3). Team fouls — USE 23, NIC 19. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — N. Brown. 

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