Cardinals fall out of Region 18 tourney

TWIN FALLS — Freshman Ace Arnold hit three free throws with six seconds remaining to pull fourth-seeded North Idaho College within a 73-70 deficit, but the Cardinals could get no closer in a loss to top-seeded College of Southern Idaho 74-70 in the semifinals of the Region 18 men's basketball championship tournament on Friday night. 

NIC finished 16-15.  

NIC played without sophomore guard Ne'quan Brown, who missed the game after having a reoccurrence of a blood clotting issue that kept him from practice early in the season. 

"The guys really competed," NIC coach Corey Symons said. "When you take your leading scorer and rebounder out of the game, it's a big hurdle. But our guys competed and had our chances down the stretch. We just didn't make the shots we needed to win the game." 

CSI (29-2) will face Snow College of Ephraim, Utah., in today's championship game, with the winner advancing to a regional playoff game against the District 1 (Arizona) champion next Saturday. 

Sophomore Ajayi Simmons had 15 points and 12 rebounds for NIC, which shot 24 of 67. 

Jalen Lyn scored 23 points for CSI, which upset Snow last week to win the conference title. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Nyale Robinson 3-11 1-2 10, Ajayi Simmons 5-17 3-3 15, Austin Ouko 3-11 1-2 9, Gage Ontiveros 1-3 0-0 2, Justus Haseley 2-7 2-4 6, Ace Arnold 0-2 3-3 3, Cody Wright 3-4 1-2 9, Cason Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Sawyr Hansen 0-0 0-0 0, Aly Toure 3-5 2-2 8, Jacori Ervin 4-7 0-2 8. Totals 24-67 13-20 70. 

SOUTHERN IDAHO 

Jalen Lyn 8-16 5-8 23, Ace Reiser 2-8 5-6 10, Ben Thornbrue 3-12 1-2 8, Nathan Ahner 5-10 2-3 16, Guygustone Kasenga 1-1 1-2 3, Cooper Kesler 2-6 2-4 7, Kobe Kesler 0-3 3-4 3, Charlie Dimmock 1-4 2-2 4. Totals 22-60 21-31 74. 

Halftime — CSI 40-32. 3-point goals — NIC 9-29 (Robinson 3-8, Simmons 2-6, Ouko 2-8, Haseley 0-4, Arnold 0-1, Wright 2-2), CSI 9-19 (Lyn 2-3, Reiser 1-4, Thornbrue 1-3, Ahner 4-5, C. Kesler 1-3, K. Kesler 0-1). Rebounds — NIC 43 (Simmons 12), CSI 45 (Reiser, Ahner 9). Assists — NIC 13 (Haseley 8), CSI 11 (Lyn, Reiser 4). Team fouls — NIC 26, CSI 19. Fouled out — Toure.

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