Box Score TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (March 15, 2022) – When you get to a national tournament, every team is good; every team wants to win.
 
The No. 1 Salt Lake Community College Men's Basketball team is the team to beat this week in 'Hutch', and the Bruins saw how much of a target is on their back in the opening game of the tournament Tuesday, a Round-of-16 game against No. 16 Moberly Area. In the end, a pair of late free throws boosted the Bruins to an 86-83 win to advance to the quarterfinals against either Odessa College or Shelton State College.

"I told our guys all week that the first game would be really tough, and Moberly was and is really tough," said Bruins coach Kyle Taylor. "They are one of the best shot-making teams I've ever seen. We played great for long stretches and then just had a few bad moments down the stretch, but we battled and got two huge stops in the final 20 seconds."
 
SLCC jumped out to a strong halftime lead, posting a 54-36 halftime lead after shooting 53.3 percent in the first half. The second half was a different story, with the Bruin lead slowly dwindling until Moberly's Sincere Parker hit a three-point shot to cut the SLCC lead to 81-80 with 33 seconds remaining. 
 
From there, both teams traded fouls and postured until Doctor Bradley hit a pair of late free throws to give SLCC an advantage it would not surrender. The Bruins shot just 31 percent in the second half (9-of-31). 
 
Jordan Brinson led the Bruins with 25 points, while Quincy McGriff also contributed 20 points in the win. Other SLCC double-digit scorers included Chase Adams (13 points) and Jaquan Scott (10 points).

"This tournament is just about finding ways to win and advance to the next round," said Taylor. "We did that today. Quincy McGriff and Jordan Brinson scored a ton of points. Chase Adams controlled the tempo of the game, and Doctor Bradley hit two monster free throws to give us a late lead."
 
Salt Lake will play its NJCAA quarterfinal game on Thursday at 12:00 p.m.