No. 6 SLCC Men's Basketball gets set for Region 18 Championship showdown with Snow College

Coeur d'Alene, ID—The No. 6-ranked SLCC Men's Basketball team (27-3, 14-1 SWAC) will play for the Region 18 Title this evening against in-state rival Snow College (21-9, 8-7 SWAC) at host school North Idaho College's Rolly Williams Court with tipoff slated for 7:30 p.m. (PT).

The top-seeded Bruins advanced to the final with a commanding 89-73 victory over fierce rival College of Southern Idaho (CSI) (19-11, 6-9 SWAC) on Friday night. CSI jumped out to an early lead but the Bruins responded with a 17-2 run to reclaim the lead. SLCC led by as many as 23 points en route to its first Region 18 Title game since 2010-11.

The third-seeded Badgers of Snow College shocked tourney host and second seed NIC on its home floor, leading 36-32 at halftime and eventually stretching the lead to 17 points. The Cardinals rallied to tie the game, but fell short of victory by five points with the final score at 77-72.

SLCC has beaten Snow all three times the teams have met this season, though all victories over the Badgers have come in close fashion.

The Bruins won 74-70 over Snow in the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) home opener at Bruin Arena on Dec. 15 and squeaked out a 67-66 win in Ephraim, UT on a last-second 16-foot jump shot from sophomore forward JuWan Buchanan (Seattle, WA) on Jan. 19. The final matchup of the regular season between the teams was an 86-81 home victory for Salt Lake on Feb. 9.

SLCC won all three games by a combined total of 10 points and the Bruin coaching staff expects another epic battle between the two top Utah schools on Saturday.

“They're a tough team, they've got shooters and we really respect what Coach Nielson and the Badger program have done,” said SLCC Head Coach Todd Phillips, who was named the Scenic West Athletic Conference Coach-of-the-Year. “They're a disciplined team, and having played three games against them this year we know that both teams are familiar with each other. We expect another close game with so much at stake and we're really excited about the opportunity to compete for the Region Championship tonight.”

Tonight's Region 18 Championship Game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. (PT), and the game will be televised via the NIC web stream. NIC play-by-play voice Dick Haugen will be joined by the play-by-play “Voice of the Bruins” Gavin McCallister for the call of the action. Fans can purchase the webcast for $6 if they have not already paid for the $10 tournament pass.

For a link to the webcast, click HERE or go to www.nicathletics.com and select 'Webcasts'.