SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The College of Southern Idaho men's basketball team missed 2-out-of-4 free throws with 30 seconds to play that would have sealed the game and given the Golden Eagles the outright Scenic West Athletic Conference title Thursday. Instead, CSI headed into overtime, eventually losing to the Bruins 83-77.
The two teams are now tied at 12-2 in the conference race with one game remaining. If the Golden Eagles can get past Snow on Saturday, they will earn the top seed for the Region 18 Tournament regardless of what Salt Lake does against North Idaho on Saturday because CSI beat Salt Lake two out of three times during the season and hold the tiebreaker.
The one area that has haunted the Golden Eagles all season may have cost them Thursday's game. CSI managed just 18-of-31 shooting from the free-throw line, shooting just 58 percent for the game. Salt Lake shot close to 70 percent and out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 50-34 and that proved to be the difference.
CSI finished the game with five players scoring in double figures including Fredrick Edmond (15), Shaq Carr (13), Ar'Mond Davis (13), Tyson Smith (12) and Keonta Vernon (12). Pape Diatta led the Eagles ont he boards with seven.
After scoring just 15 first-half points and shooting just 24 percent from the field, it seemed the Golden Eagles were in for a long night. But CSI came out of the locker room energized and scored 54 points in the second half, knocking down 59 percent of their shots. The Golden Eagles just didn't get the key points when they needed and Salt Lake hit on four of their last five free throws to get the Bruins into overtime where they outscored CSI 14-8.