TAYLORSVILLE, Utah - The chances were there for the North Idaho College Cardinals men's basketball team to advance to an NJCAA tournament play-in game on Tuesday night.

The shots weren't.

NIC shot 9 for 29 from the field in the second half and were unable to hold on to an 8-point lead in falling to the seventh-ranked Southern Idaho Golden Eagles 58-52 in the Region 18 tournament championship game on Saturday at Bruin Arena.

"We were right there and had our chances," NIC coach Jared Phay said. "We just kind of hit the wall offensively and had a hard time hitting a bucket at the end of the game."

Keon Lewis scored 15 of the Cardinals' 26 points in the first half, but was held to one point after intermission.

Lewis, along with sophomore guard Antoine Hosley, were named to the all-Region 18 tournament team. Hosley added 15 points for NIC, which finished 24-8.

"They both had a couple of good games for us down here," Phay said. "Keon might have ran out of gas in the second half, but you’ve got to credit CSI’s defense. At the end, they didn’t let him penetrate to the hoop.”

CSI (29-3), the defending NJCAA champion, will host Arizona Western (26-6) on Tuesday in a NJCAA tournament play-in game in Twin Falls.

NIC led 25-18 with 3:19 remaining in the first half before CSI closed with a 10-1 run to take a 28-26 halftime lead.

After leading 41-36, NIC failed to score for close to six minutes, while CSI went on an 8-0 run before Jordan McCloud scored to snap the run.

NIC built an eight-point lead with 15:38 remaining on a pair of free throws by Kaj Sherman.

NIC tied the score at 45 on free throws by Hosley, but CSI went up by five points on a jumper by Fabyon Harris to take a 53-48 lead with 1:13 remaining.

“I thought they did a good job defensively,” Phay said. “They stepped it up in the second half and we just couldn’t hit shots. We couldn’t finish around the basket and just struggled to score in the second half.”

NIC was bidding for its first Region 18 championship since 1997.

In the rivals’ four games against each other, CSI won three of them, with the margin separated by 17 points.

“I thought we had a good year,” Phay said. “It just hurts more when you’re so close. I’m proud of our guys. We battled through some injuries and had a chance to win it.”

Rafriel Guthrie, who had nine points and seven rebounds for CSI, was named tournament MVP.

• Women: Danielle Lockhart scored 16 points as the second-seeded Snow Badgers (19-12) advanced to their first NJCAA tournament in school history by defeating the fifth-seeded Salt Lake Bruins 60-57.

Salt Lake finishes 18-13.

NORTH IDAHO

Jordan McCloud 1-4 0-0 2, Antoine Hosley 6-19 3-3 15, Connor White 0-0 0-0 0, Keon Lewis 4-12 7-10 16, Michael Middlebrooks 0-2 1-5 1, Edrico McGregor 5-7 1-2 11, Petar Joksimovic 1-4 0-0 3, Kaj Sherman 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 18-51 14-22 52.

SOUTHERN IDAHO

Pat Swilling 3-13 4-6 11, Fabyon Harris 3-10 8-10 14, Kevin Attila 1-1 0-0 3, Gerson Santo 1-4 2-4 4, Rafriel Guthrie 2-6 5-6 9, Dennis Mikelonis 0-0 0-0 0, Paul Egwuonwu 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Cothron 3-5 8-10 14, Sebastien Michineau 1-7 0-1 3, Paul Bunch 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-46 27-37 58.

Halftime — CSI 28-26. 3-point goals — NIC 2-11 (Hosley 0-5, Lewis 1-3, Joskimovic 1-3), CSI 3-12 (Harris 0-2, Guthrie 0-1, Michineau 1-3, Attila 1-1, Swilling 1-5). Rebounds — NIC 35 (McCloud 12), CSI 44 (Santo 11). Assists — NIC 6 (Lewis 4), CSI 9 (Michineau 6). Team fouls — NIC 22, CSI 21. Fouled out — Joksimovic, Middlebrooks.

ALL REGION 18 TOURNAMENT TEAM

MVP — Rafriel Guthrie, Southern Idaho

Travis Wilkins, Snow; Agustin Ambrosino, Salt Lake; Antoine Hosley, North Idaho; Keon Lewis, North Idaho; Luke Cothron, Southern Idaho.

MVP — Erica Martinez, Snow.

Priscila Santos, Utah State-Eastern Utah; Korina Baker, North Idaho; Sofia Hepworth, Salt Lake; Kelsi Wells, Snow; Marissa Robbins, Salt Lake.