REGION 18 MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Cardinals closing the gap at the right time

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

It’s close. 

Really close. 

Then again, what else might you expect when North Idaho College and the College of Southern Idaho meet on a basketball court? 

NIC (16-14), seeded fourth, enters the Region 18 Tournament starting Friday in Twin Falls, has won three of its last five games, including an upset of then-No. 1 Snow last Thursday at Rolly Williams Court in Coeur d’Alene. 

CSI is 28-2.

In 2025, NIC started Scenic West Athletic Conference play 1-5, but battled back to finish third in the conference. The Cardinals lost to second-seeded CSI in an opening round game last year in Ephraim, Utah. 

“We’re really similar to where we were at last year,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “Our guys are starting to buy into their roles. I really like where we’re at heading into regionals right now. We’ll see CSI for a fifth time, but I really like our chances of going down and making some waves.” 

NIC (16-14) has lost to CSI in all four games, one nonconference game in November (79-70 in Twin Falls), and three times in conference (82-65 in Coeur d’Alene on Jan. 3), at CSI (85-69 on Feb. 7) and again in Coeur d’Alene (81-77) on Feb. 21. 

“We can call their plays and they can call ours,” Symons said. “We’ve lost a couple of close ones. We’ve just got to come out and do what we need to do and find a way to pull one off.” 

NIC knocked off then-No. 1 Snow 79-69 on Feb. 26 at Rolly Williams Court. 

The winner of this week’s tournament advances to a Regional Playoff game against the District 1 (Arizona Region) on March 13 in Arizona.

REGION 18 MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT 

Times PST 

At College of Southern Idaho 

Twin Falls 

Semifinals 

Friday’s Games 

Game 1 — No. 2 seed Snow (27-3) vs. No. 3 Utah State-Eastern (22-8), 4 p.m. 

Game 2 — No. 4 North Idaho (16-14) at No. 1 College of Southern Idaho (28-2), 6:30 p.m. 

Championship  

Saturday’s Game 

Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 2 p.m.