CNCC starts hot, falls to CEU 74-90; SLCC squeaks by 85-77
Twin Falls, Idaho – The CEU men’s basketball team defeated the Spartans of Colorado Northwestern 74-90 in game one of the Scenic Western Athletic Conference Region Tournament hosted by the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, Idaho, and lost to SLCC by 12 the next day.
This archived article was written by: Scott Frederick
Twin Falls, Idaho – The CEU men’s basketball team defeated the Spartans of Colorado Northwestern 74-90 in game one of the Scenic Western Athletic Conference Region Tournament hosted by the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, Idaho, and lost to SLCC by 12 the next day.
On March 4, CNCC jumped to a four nothing lead to start the game which turned out to be their largest lead of the game, but the CEU men kept their cool and dominated on both ends of the floor to advance to round two. The score was tied five times, and the lead changed three times … but all in the first half of the first half.
After that CEU got the lead and kept it for the duration of the game. CEU’s largest lead came with 4:57 left in the game when they were up by 23.
Darington Hobson was questionable because of a knee injury but got the start and led all scorers with 28. Hobson was everywhere … scoring from outside and driving into the paint which kept the defense trying to guess what he would do next. “It’s tournament time,” said Hobson, “I’m playing no matter what.”
Coming off the bench, Rafael Moreira got 13 points and nine rebounds. Stephen Franklin and Felix Casperi each had 11 points with Casperi also getting 15 rebounds, including five on the offensive side. Casperi gave a nice all-around effort going four for seven from the field, three for six from the line, 15 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal.
Kal Bay also got into double-digit scoring with 10 points. Bay drained a couple threes and went a perfect two for two from the line.
CEU dominated in nearly every category. In the paint they outscored CNCC 52-20, points off of turnovers 26-12, second chance points 20-8, fast break points, 10-5, and CEU’s bench outscored CNCC’s 27-24.
CEU faces Salt Lake Community College in game two Friday at 2 p.m.
SLCC
The next day CEU’s men took on SLCC in the semi-final round Friday and fell 77-85.
“Our guys played their hearts out, but came up a little short,” Craig said. CEU was down 29-40 at the half and couldn’t quite dig themselves out of the hole even though they outscored SLCC 48-45 in the second half.
Darington Hobson led all scorers with 29. Hobson knocked down four threes, three from the field, and went 11 out of 12 from the line. Hobson also led in rebounds, more than doubling anyone else on the floor with 14. He also had six assists, a block and a steal for a strong effort in his last game for CEU.
Freshman guard Kal Bay was on fire draining four threes, three from the field and one from the line for 19 points.
For SLCC, Yahosh Bonner led in scoring going six out of seven from the field including four out of four from beyond the arc and eight out of 13 from the line for 24 points. Bonner also had four rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Also getting into double-digit scoring for SLCC was Dan Stafford with 13, Vassy Banny and Aaron Smith each had 12.
Three players from CEU were chosen for the All-Region team. Darington Hobson was chosen First Team All-Region, Felix Casperi was chosen Second Team All-Region and Stephen Franklin was an honorable mention.
SLCC went on to the championship game where they defeated CSI 81-77. SLCC will represent the SWAC at the national tourney in Hutchinson, Kan., on March 18.
