Box Score SLCC Men's Basketball falls to Central Arizona in round two of NJCAA Tournament

SLCC (#11 seed)	35	47	82
CAC (#6 seed)	35	52	87

 
Hutchinson, KS—The No. 5-ranked SLCC Men's Basketball team (29-5) fell to No. 10-ranked Central Arizona College (CAC) (30-4) 87-82 in the second round of the NJCAA National Championships on Wednesday. CAC will advance to third round to face Central Florida on Thursday.

The Bruins jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half but got into early foul trouble, as the team was whistled for 12 fouls compared to CAC's seven. The CAC Vaqueros were 9-for-11 in the first half at the free throw line, with SLCC just 3-of-5. The final foul count was SLCC 35, CAC 21.

Down by eight points with under a minute to go, SLCC cut the deficit to three but missed key free throws down the stretch and couldn't rally to tie the contest. SLCC shot 53.6% from the field compared to CAC's 48.0% and each team turned the ball over 17 times.

Freshman forward Sai Tummala (Phoenix, AZ) led the Bruins with 20 points and grabbed six rebounds. Sophomore guard Skyler Halford (Orem, UT) scored 19 points and the future BYU Cougar added five rebounds in the losing effort.

Sophomore forward JuWan Buchanan (Seattle, WA) tallied 15 points to go with five rebounds and sophomore guard Tyrell Corbin (Salt Lake City, UT) scored 13 points. Freshman guard Gary Payton II (Las Vegas, NV) scored six points to go with five rebounds and nine assists.

The season ends for SLCC with the Bruins having claimed the Scenic West Athletic Conference and Region 18 Championship en route to its first NJCAA Tournament berth since 2009.