Salt Lake Community College will have a chance to earn itself a third national championship in men’s basketball.
The Bruins edged Chipola 70-68 on Friday evening in the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament semifinals, paced by 19 points from Quincy McGriff, who hit four 3-pointers.
With the win, top seed SLCC will face No. 10 seed Northwest Florida State in the NJCAA Division I national championship game on Saturday at 5 p.m. MDT in Hutchinson, Kansas.
SLCC has won the junior college national championship twice — in 2009 and 2016.
The Bruins have won by one possession in each of their three victories so far at the NJCAA tournament.
On Friday, SLCC led by eight with five and a half minutes to play, only to fall behind by two with just over a minute to play as Chipola went on a 12-2 run.
But the Bruins pulled out the win, thanks to the last-minute heroics of Jaquan Scott. Scott tied the game at 68-all on a jumper with 43 seconds remaining.
After Chipola missed a layup, Scott was fouled with three seconds to play and hit both free throws, sending SLCC to the championship game.
Scott had 14 points, four rebounds and two blocks for the Bruins, while former Box Elder High star Max Watson added 13 points and five rebounds and Jordan Brinson just missed a double-double with 10 points and eight assists.