PRICE, Utah - After its third game in three days, playing at a high level in all three, the North Idaho College men's basketball team ran out of gas when it needed a boost on Saturday.

After taking a 76-74 lead with seven minutes remaining, NIC scored five points the rest of the way and CSI closed with a 22-5 run to win the Region 18 championship game 96-79 on the campus of Utah State-Eastern.

"It was one of those things, where we were close right down to the wire and ran out of gas at the end," first-year NIC coach Corey Symons said. "And that three-game stretch, you could tell it killed us at the end of the game. It was a tough one, tough to swallow. This is a great group of kids and I had a great, unbelievable first year as coach. This one is a little tough to swallow."

CSI (30-2) advances to the NJCAA tournament and will face the winner of the Arizona Regional tournament next Saturday for seeding.

NIC, which could still receive an at-large bid when selections are announced on March 9, is 24-9.

"We need to be ranked in the top 10 nationally," Symons said. "We've got too many losses, so we're pretty much done, unfortunately."

Fredrick Edmond, who has verbally committed to Boise State, had 19 points and 18 rebounds for CSI, which outrebounded NIC 40-28.

"We didn't rebound the ball as well as we would have liked to," Symons said. "We had our shots and took the lead with seven minutes to play, then they hit a big 3-pointer and got a dunk off an inbounds play, and you could see our guys hit the wall. Three games at that caliber is tough. CSI got us. They were the better team tonight, but we had our chances."

Jamaal Robateau, who has verballed to Division I Gardner-Webb, finished with 26 points, three assists and four rebounds for NIC.

"Jamaal played well, and has been playing really well for us," Symons said. "What more can you ask of a player than that."

Robateau and Braian Angola-Rodas were named to the all-tournament team.

"We played a good game, they just kicked our butts on the boards," Symons said. "We just had a tough time on the boards. We played a little physical, but we had a tough time on the glass and that's where they turned it on us."

NORTH IDAHO

Jamaal Robateau 7-19 810 26, Braian Angola-Rodas 1-7 0-2 2, Fuquan Niles 4-4 2-2 10, Kyle Guice 1-2 0-0 3, Austin Pope 5-9 4-6 17, Lucas Antunez 1-2 0-0 3, D'Adrian Allen 1-3 3-4 5, Jordan King 3-9 0-0 8, Charlie Lockwood 1-1 0-0 3, Ty Higbie 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 25-59 17-24 79.

SOUTHERN IDAHO

Abdoulaye Harouna 7-13 1-1 21, Shaq Carr 4-8 3-3 11, Ray Kasongo 0-1 2-2 2, Fredrick Edmond 7-15 4-9 18, Austin Winegar 0-0 0-0 0, Uchenna Iroegbu 0-1 0-0 0, Alec Meyerhoeffer 0-0 0-0, Ricky Hudson 0-0 0-0 0, Ar'Mond Davis 4-7 7-8 16, Tyson Smith 5-7 1-2 12, Keonta Vernon 1-1 0-0 2, Pape Diatta 3-4 2-2 9, Dakota Chambers 1-1 2-2 4.

Halftime - CSI 45-39. 3-point goals - NIC 12-29 (Robateau 4-13, Angola-Rodas 0-1, Guice 1-2, Pope 3-5, Antunez 0-1, King 2-4, Lockwood 1-1, Higbie 1-2), CSI 9-20 (Harouna 6-9, Edmond 0-2, Iroegbu 0-1, Davis 1-4, Smith 1-3, Diatta 1-1). Rebounds - NIC 28 (Niles 7), CSI 40 (Edmond 18). Assists - NIC 15 (Angola-Rodas 7), CSI 16 (Carr 10). Team fouls - NIC 24, CSI 19. Fouled out - Angola-Rodas.

REGION 18 TOURNAMENTS

At Utah State-Eastern

Price, Utah

Saturday's Game

Championship

Southern Idaho 96, North Idaho 79 (winner to nationals)

Saturday's Game

Championship

Southern Idaho 60, Salt Lake 57 (both to nationals)

REGION 18 ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS

Most Valuable Player - Abdoulaye Harouna, Southern Idaho

DeSean Parsons, Salt Lake; Gentrey Thomas, Snow; Jamaal Robateau, North Idaho; Fredrick Edmond, Southern Idaho; Austin Pope, North Idaho.

Most Valuable Player - Samantha Lubcke, Southern Idaho

Bryanna Adams, Utah State-Eastern; Whitney Saunders, Snow; Raushan Gultekin, Salt Lake; Holly Blades, Southern Idaho; Cassidy Whitney, Salt Lake.