AWC falls short in District final
Matadors lose by 3 points, miss chance to play in national tourney
In a frenetic game from tipoff to final buzzer, with plenty of scoring and excitement on the court and in the stands, it felt fitting that the rights to go to the NJCAA National Tournament would come down to one last shot.
Arizona Western freshman Dajuan Beard had a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime, but his 3-pointer hit the rim and bounced out, giving the College of Southern Idaho a 92-89 win in the District I Championship on Saturday at AWC.
“We had our chances, missed too many layups; sometimes that happens in big games,” AWC men’s basketball coach Charles Harral said. “CSI shot the ball really well. We took it to the very last possession, and we have to kind of live with the results.”
Beard’s missed shot was the conclusion of a wild final minute of play. The last 60 seconds began with AWC’s Daryl Adams making a 3-pointer from the corner to bring the deficit to three points. A couple missed shots ticked the clock down to 12 seconds, when the Eagles (27-6 overall) missed a layup and a few seconds of chaos en- sued. No one claimed the rebound, and the ball skirted around in the key until a foul was called on AWC (26-7), which was met with indignance from the Matadors.
CSI’s Casdon Jardine missed his first free throw, but netted the second, making the score 91-87.
Beard ran down the floor and made a field goal to get AWC within two. The Matadors fouled CSI’s Danya