• MEN

TWIN FALLS — “All that matters now is the color of the jersey.” 

Still with plenty to be determined, North Idaho College helped itself a little more with a 77-67 win over Southern Idaho in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game on Saturday. 

NIC (17-11, 7-6 SWAC) trails CSI (20-8, 8-5) by one game for second in the conference with two games remaining. The Cardinals won two of three games against the Golden Eagles this season. 

“Mathematically, we’re still fighting for seeding, but it was great to get that win,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “Salt Lake could tie us, but we’ve got the head-to-head (2-1) on them too, so we’ll likely play CSI again at regionals. All that matters now is the color of the jersey.”

Freshman Ne’quan Brown scored a team-high 23 points for NIC, which limited CSI to 16-of-61 shooting.  

“Especially in the first half, we really guarded them well and made them take bad shots,” said Symons, whose team led 43-22 at halftime.

Sophomore Vaughn Weems, who leads the NJCAA in scoring at 27.2 points per game, had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Deng Diew had 13 points for NIC. 

“Those three (Brown, Diew and Weems) are playing really well right now,” Symons said. “Ne’quan really sparked us and had a couple of dunks and 3-pointers to get us going. Dace (Pleasant) didn’t shoot the ball really well, but had 10 rebounds and found other ways to impact the game. The guys are really playing well as a team right now.” 

Snow (27-1, 13-0 SWAC) beat host Salt Lake (18-11, 6-8) 84-70 in Taylorsville, Utah, and Utah State-Eastern (11-12, 4-9) beat Colorado Northwestern (16-13, 2-12) 53-49  in Rangely, Colo., in other conference play on Saturday. 

NIC travels to Utah State-Eastern on Thursday. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Vaughn Weems 7-12 3-5 19, Deng Diew 6-15 1-3 13, Ne’quan Brown 8-11 3-5 23, Dace Pleasant 1-6 5-6 7, Tayshawn Colvin 0-2 0-0 0, Jeremiah Sibley 0-0 1-2 1, Sam Marbury 3-8 1-2 8, Jacori Ervin 3-4 0-2 6, Ajayi Simmons 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 28-60 14-25 77. 

SOUTHERN IDAHO 

Dale Griffin 0-1 0-0 0, Tanner Hayhurst 3-9 3-4 10, Khayri Dunn 1-10 6-6 9, Isaac Hawkins 1-6 2-2 5, Samuel Lupumba 1-3 7-8 9, Jalen Lyn 0-6 4-7 4, Gerry Guerrero 0-1 0-0 0, Amarco Doyle 8-12 3-4 24, Nathan Ahner 2-9 2-4 6, Marcus Fizer Jr. 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 16-61 27-35 67. 

Halftime — NIC 43-22. 3-point goals — NIC 7-16 (Weems 2-2, Diew 0-3, Brown 4-4, Marbury 1-3), CSI 8-25 (Griffin 0-1, Hayhurst 1-2, Dunn 1-6, Hawkins 1-2, Lyn 0-2, Guerrero 0-1, Doyle 5-6, Ahner 0-4, Fizer Jr. 0-1). Rebounds — NIC 48 (Weems, Pleasant 10), CSI 40 (Doyle 8). Assists — NIC 10 (Colvin, Marbury, Ervin 2), CSI 7 (Ahner 4). Team fouls — NIC 22, CSI 21. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — Brown. 

• WOMEN

Southern Idaho 74 

North Idaho 52 

TWIN FALLS — Everything’s still in front of the Cardinals as far as winning a conference title, hosting the Region 18 Tournament and extending their postseason run to nationals. 

But there’s still some work to be done. 

NIC, which entered the game with a one-game lead over Southern Idaho in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, fell to the Golden Eagles on Saturday. CSI (21-7, 9-4 SWAC) won the season series over NIC (17-10) 2-1, with both teams scheduled to play at Utah State-Eastern and Snow next week to conclude the regular season. 

“We didn’t play well and I didn’t have the girls ready to play today,” NIC coach Nathan Covill said. “It’s hard to beat anybody when they’re engaged and tough at home, and CSI is tough. We need to dust ourselves off and get ready to win two games on the road next week. Record-wise, CSI has the tiebreaker now, but if we go down and take care of business next week, who knows. We’ve got to get dialed in. We still control our destiny a little bit, but need to take care of business next weekend.” 

Freshman Esmeralda Galindo, the reigning conference Player of the Week, had 14 points for NIC. 

Kayla Porray scored 22 points for CSI, which plays at Snow next Thursday. 

In other conference play on Saturday, third-place Snow (18-9, 7-5) won at fourth-place Salt Lake (18-9, 7-6) 64-60 and Utah State-Eastern (15-12, 7-6) — now tied with Salt Lake for the final regional berth — beat Colorado Northwestern (3-26, 0-14) 55-42 in Rangely, Colo. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Chloe Collin 3-7 0-2 9, Kylani Rookstool 5-13 2-2 13, Esmeralda Galindo 5-14 2-2 14, Iratxe Amorrortu 2-5 0-0 6, Summer Faleafa 3-7 0-0 7, Tiarnee Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Larkin Christiansen 0-0 0-0 0, Ripeka Edwards 1-3 0-0 2, Molly Axell 0-0 0-0, Emmalee Secrest 0-5 1-2 1, Tayler Adams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-57 5-8 52. 

SOUTHERN IDAHO 

Alina Sapilak 0-4 0-0 0, Kennedy Gillette 6-13 1-2 13, Mariah Mons 4-6 0-0 10, Falon Bedke 1-1 1-2 3, Kayla Porray 9-14 2-5 22, Chloe Jensen 0-0 0-0 0, Samara Morrow 3-6 0-0 6, Calyn Wood 1-2 0-0 3, Kayla Kasabuchi 0-2 0-0 0, Savannah Stoker 5-9 1-2 11, Macie Brown 1-2 0-0 2, Ashley Garner 2-6 0-0 4. Totals 32-65 5-11 74. 

North Idaho    16    16    9    11    —    52 

Southern Idaho    24    18    16    16    —    74 

3-point goals — NIC 9-24 (Collin 3-4, Rookstool 1-6, Galindo 2-4, Amorrortu 2-3, Faleafa 1-4, Smith 0-1, Edwards 0-1, Secrest 0-1), CSI 5-17 (Sapilak 0-1, Gillette 0-4, Mons 2-3, Porray 2-3, Morrow 0-1, Wood 1-2, Kasabuchi 0-2, Brown 0-1). Rebounds — NIC 28 (Collin, Galindo 5), CSI 46 (Brown 10). Assists — NIC 12 (Edwards 5), CSI 15 (Gillette, Morrow, Kasabuchi 3). Team fouls — NIC 12, CSI 14. Fouled out — none.