Box Score SLCC Men's Basketball Wins District I Playoff, Earns Automatic Bid to NJCAA Nationals

Bruins ease past Thunderbirds, earn second consecutive berth in national tournament

	1	2	Final
MCC	30	29	59
SLCC	32	43	75

 
Salt Lake City, UT—The Region 18 champion SLCC Men's Basketball team (27-6) defeated Region 1 champion No. 22-ranked Mesa Community College (26-5) by a final score of 75-59 on Saturday night in the District I Playoff Game. With the victory, SLCC has earned its second consecutive trip to the NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball National Championships in Hutchinson, KS (Mar. 17-22).

The Bruins out-rebounded the Thunderbirds 31-18 and shot 53.7 percent from the field in the winning effort. MCC finished at 42.4 percent shooting. SLCC had 26 assists on its 29 made baskets for the evening. Salt Lake led 32-30 at the halftime break and out-scored the Thunderbirds 43-29 in the second 20 minutes of play.

Salt Lake held MCC, the nation's fifth best three point shooting team, to a 5-for-22 shooting performance from beyond the arc. The Bruins went 7-for-20 from three point range and were 10-of-13 from the free throw line. The Thunderbirds were 4-for-8 from the free throw line.

Stats vs. MCC: SLCC sophomore guard Gary Payton II (Las Vegas, NV) tallied 18 points and completed a double-double with 13 rebounds. The future Oregon State Beaver was 7-for-11 from the field and 2-for-4 from beyond the arc and had nine assists in the contest.

Freshman forward Neal Monson (Sandy, UT) scored 18 points to go with five rebounds. Sophomore guard Jaden Jackson (Salt Lake City, UT) added 14 points with five rebounds and eight assists. Sophomore guard Collin Woods (Scottsdale, AZ) turned in 11 points and was 3-for-4 from three point range. Freshman guard Zerrion Payton (Oakland, CA) scored nine points to go with five rebounds.

Head Coach Todd Phillips and the Bruins will wait for the final seeding for the NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championships to be released on Sunday evening or early on Monday.