Box Score TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (February 29, 2020) – The No. 7 Salt Lake Community College men's basketball team entered the Region 18 tournament with a perfect record in the calendar year of 2020.
 
After two hard-fought tournament games, the Bruins ended the tournament in perfection, earning an 84-81 win over two-seed Snow College to earn their first Region 18 championship since 2018. With the win, Salt Lake's overall record improves to 28-4.
 
SLCC coach Kyle Taylor said the image of seeing the SLCC women's basketball team earn the Region 18 title earlier in the evening made an impression on his team and set the stage for the night's victory.
 
"This is a special night for Salt Lake basketball with both us and our women winning," he said. "First off, I want to say congrats to Coach Marcilina Grayer and the women's team on winning Region 18 and advancing to the national tournament in her first year. It was awesome to watch them cut down nets and fun to follow in their footsteps a few hours later."
 
In a game that came down to the final moments, the Bruins took a 42-36 lead and then held on for a wild finish. The game featured 12 lead changes and 9 ties, with both programs struggling to gain an upper hand. SLCC's athleticism and defense made a large difference in the game, with the program holding a 15-2 edge in fast-break points and shooting 50 percent (31-of-62) from the field.
 
Spencer Johnson finished with a dominating performance in the win, finishing with 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Justice Hill scored 18 points and Christian Popoola contributed 13 points in the win.
 
Taylor said several of his players played critical roles in the win.
 
"Our guys know how to win," he said. "I'm impressed just standing on the sidelines and watching our guys work. Spencer Johnson had an incredible first half with 20 points and four three's; Christian PoP'oola and Justice Hill hit monster shots in the second half, and from the five-minute mark down we got the stops we needed to win. 
 
"I want to congratulate Coach (Rob) Nielsen and Snow College, they were great. They are so well- coached and disciplined and so hard to play against. They had a terrific year."
 
Taylor is now the third head coach at SLCC to lead the Bruins to a Region 18 title, joining Norm Parrish and Todd Phillips. 
 
Salt Lake will now advance to next week's NJCAA District One championship game, with hosting information to be released shortly on www.slccbruins.com. The winner of that game receive an automatic bid into the NJCAA national tournament.