Men's Basketball | 2/24/2015 2:46:00 PM

TWIN FALLS - The College of Southern Idaho Men's Basketball team has already accomplished so much - a 28-2 overall record, a NJCAA eighth in the country ranking - a Scenic West Athletic Conference Co-Championship. They lead most offensive and defensive stat categories in the SWAC. They have put together one of the best regular seasons in the history of Golden Eagle Basketball. And they've done it with 13 freshmen and only one sophomore and a new head coach.
Now, the CSI men's basketball team led by head coach Jared Phay, wants more.
The Golden Eagles open up the Region 18 Tournament Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Price, Utah.
"It's the start of a new season," Phay said. "We've had a great regular season but it doesn't matter now. Our focus is on winning one game at a time and bringing home the program's 28th Region 18 Championship."
To do that, the Golden Eagles will need to get past the winner of Snow and Colorado Northwestern. Those two teams play Thursday at 7:30 p.m. On paper Snow is the clear cut favorite but CNCC has had a solid year.
"First of all, congrats to CNCC for being very competitive this year," Phay said. "We are going to prepare for both and at the same time in the back of our minds we know we had an overtime game with Snow last weeked. We can't overlook anyone."
The Badgers are led by the league's leading scorer Walter Wright. The sophomore guard averages 23.4 points, 6.3 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Colorado is led by TerryLee Wedgeworth. He ranks fifth in the conference in points per game at 14.4, second in assists at 4.2 and first in free throw percentage.
Based on the seasons' results, the Golden Eagles obviously match up better with CNCC. CSI had three close games with the Badgers, beating Snow 74-70, 90-77 and 84-79 (OT). Against Colorado the Golden Eagles dominated every game 110-57, 100-59 and 94-44.
If CSI can get the semi-final win against either Snow or Colorado Northwestern, the Golden Eagles will advance to the Region 18 Championship Saturday immediately following the women's 5 p.m. championship.
Salt Lake would likely be the team to come through the other side of the bracket unscathed as the Bruins only two conference losses were to CSI.
The Bruins are on a six-game winning streak with their last loss coming at the hands of CSI 79-70 in Twin Falls.
"The players seem focused and excited to play," Phay said. "Our energy and effort will be key this weekend. We need to play really physical and rebound the ball to have success."
The Golden Eagles will look to their lone sophomore Fredrick Edmond to lead the team as he is the only player with region tournament experience.
Edmond ranks second in the conference in scoring (19.0 ppg), first in rebounding (7.2 rpg), first in steals (2.4 spg) and first in field goal percentage (.643).
That doesn't mean some of the freshmen haven't already showed they are capable sharing a bulk of the pressure and helping lead this team.
Ar'Mond Davis is an explosive scorer who averages 11.3 points per game for the Eagles. Keonta Vernon is a huge physical presence inside, averaging 6.8 rebounds per game. Pape Diatta has guard skills as a post, able to score inside or out. Ray Kasongo is a game changer on the inside with his shot blocking prowess, averaging 2.0 blocks per game. Tyson Smith and Shaq Carr give CSI great point guard leadership with Uchenna Iroegbu giving the Eagles a spark off the bench. Smith ranks third in the conference in steals (2.1 spg) and fourth in assists (3.6 apg), while Carr is fifth in assists (3.3 apg).
"Everyone is healthy and we expect our depth to be a factor in the tournament," Phay said. "These players understand the expectations they have on them representing CSI and we are excited for this group to have the chance to add to the success of what CSI Basketball is."
USU Eastern has set up a website so fans can follow all the action. For ticket information, webcast links and brackets go to: http://usueastern.edu/dev/swac/
Fans can also follow CSI on twitter at: @CSIathletics1 or instagram at: csi_athletics or facebook at: csi athletics. You can also get text score updates following the games by signing up at: http://athletics.csi.edu/member/sms_signup.aspx