Call the folks at Rand McNally and get the atlas changed. The Region 18 road to the NJCAA nationals does indeed go through Twin Falls, Idaho.
That's the home of the College of Southern Idaho, which will be sending both its men's and women's basketball teams to national tournaments later this month - the men are making their seventh consecutive trip to the NJCAA tourney in Hutchinson, Kansas, while the women are taking a trek to their nationals in Tyler, Texas.CSI pulled off the double-delight Saturday night at the UVCC Activity Center, claiming victories in both championship games in the Region 18 tournament. The top-seeded CSI men, ranked 10th in the nation, downed 3rd-ranked and tourney-host Utah Valley Community College 65-63, while the CSI women trounced Salt Lake Community College 65-48. More on the latter later.
The CSI-UVCC contest proved to be a back-and-forth battle, with the Wolverines postings leads of 10 points early in the first half and six points midway in the second while the Golden Eagles came out on top at the end of the halves, including a 28-23 advantage at intermission.
Despite a scoring drought of nearly 7 minutes, UVCC was deploying a spread offense that slowed down the pace of the game and offered a 17-7 lead. "We weren't going to chase them in the spread," said CSI Coach Fred Trenkle, whose team outscored the Wolverines 21-6 through the remainder of the half.
In the second, UVCC evened the score within the first four minutes and used a 6-0 spurt to take control. CSI returned the favor before the score was knotted at 57-all with two minutes to play.
The Eagles took a four-point margin, which the Wolverines trimmed to just one before missing a variety of scoring opportunities then as well as down the stretch. CSI soon posted a safe 65-60 lead in the final minute - plenty of cushion to withstand Tai Riser's buzzer-beating trey.
CSI's Toni Harris, named the men's MVP, led CSI with 13 points, while Clayton Johnson and Trent Rose each added 10 each. Chris Koford paced UVCC with 17 points.
UVCC Coach Duke Reid bemoaned breakdowns, mental mistakes and nervousness as costing his team its leads. "Against a good team, you can't afford a couple of breakdowns."
Reid was quick to point out UVCC's successes this season, including the No. 3 ranking, the regular-season sweep of CSI (including halting the Eagles' eight-year, 137-game home winning streak) and the 28-5 overall record. "A lot of people in American would love to have that kind of a season," he said.
Trenkle has taken CSI to the NJCAA nationals the past six years, winning the title in 1987 as well as placing second, fourth and seventh.
Women's championship
Southern Idaho 65, SLCC 48
Sharleece Keller connected on 11 of 18 attempts from the floor and finished with a game-high 29 points to lead the Golden Eagles past the Bruins and into the upcoming NJCAA women's national tournament.
Tammie Clark added another 20 points and Amy Boone pulled down 10 rebounds to pace CSI, which broken open a close game by establishing double-digit margins late in the first half.
SLCC, which earned a trip to Saturday's finals with a semifinal upset of nationally ranked Utah Valley Community College, pulled to within nine points midway in the second half and held CSI scoreless on several subsequent possessions. However, the Bruins were unable to score themselves and couldn't draw any closer.
Kamie Siddoway and Adrianne Doyle shared team-high honors with 10 points apiece for SLCC, which managed a mere 34 percent shooting percentage.