COEUR d'ALENE - After watching his team hoist up 42 3-point shots in its last game, North Idaho College men's basketball coach Jared Phay preached patience on offense this week.

On Thursday, the Cardinals shot just 11 3-pointers, hitting four, in a 61-54 victory over Salt Lake Community College in Scenic West Athletic Conference play Thursday night at Rolly Williams Court.

"I thought our shot selection was really good, and our defensive effort was really good," Phay said. "I felt like we controlled the tempo of the game. We needed to be more deliberate on offense, and we were more efficient tonight."

NIC (21-5, 7-4) moved into a tie with Salt Lake (20-6, 7-4) for second place. The two teams are now just two games behind fourth-ranked Southern Idaho (23-3, 9-2), which was routed 82-62 at home by Snow (19-7, 6-5). NIC hosts Snow on Saturday.

Antoine Hosley scored 13 points for NIC, which shot 42 percent (21 of 50) from the field. Michael Middlebrooks had 15 rebounds and six blocked shots.

Darian Cartharn scored 15 points to lead Salt Lake, which shot just 26.1 percent (18 of 69) from the field.

SALT LAKE

Darian Cartharn 6-10 0-0 15, Davis Emery 0-4 0-0 0, Gabe Kindred 1-6 6-9 8, Jordan Bernardo 0-0 0-0 0, Stephane Manga 0-0 0-0 0, Agustin Ambrosino 1-5 3-4 5, Skyler Halford 4-14 3-4 12, Jordan Rex 3-4 2-4 8, Louis Garrett 1-9 0-0 2, Sean Carey 0-6 0-0 0, Jayson Cheesman 2-11 0-0 4. Totals 18-69, 14-21 54.

NORTH IDAHO

Jordan McCloud 3-6 2-4 8, Antoine Hosley 5-14 1-3 13, Connor White 0-2 0-0 0, Keon Lewis 3-6 3-4 10, Michael Middlebrooks 3-8 1-2 7, Edrico McGregor 2-2 0-0 4, Tyrell Lewis 0-1 0-0 0, Petar Joksimovic 4-6 3-4 12, Kaj Sherman 1-5 5-8 7. Totals 21-50 15-25 61.

Halftime - NIC 26-14. 3-point goals - SLCC 4-19 (Cartharn 3-5, Emery 0-2, Kindred 0-1, Ambrosino 1-5, Garrett 0-4, Carey 0-1), NIC 4-11 (Hosley 2-8, White 0-1, K. Lewis 1-1, Joksimovic 1-1). Rebounds - SLCC 35 (Halford, Cheesman 5), NIC 57 (Middlebrooks 15). Fouled out - Ambrosino. Total fouls - SLCC 20, NIC 16.