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Hutchinson, Kan. – Northeast Mississippi Community College ran out of time during a furious come-from-behind attempt on the grandest stage of basketball at the two-year level.

The Tigers fell to Salt Lake (Utah) Community College 77-64 in the opening round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I National Tournament on Monday, March 14 at the historic Sports Arena.

"We dug ourselves in a deep hole there against a really good team," said Northeast head coach Cord Wright. "Our guys stayed with it. They kept battling and I'm extremely proud of them. We had our opportunities."

The Tigers, who were the No. 20 seed, found themselves down by 20 points at 65-45 following a layup by Bushmen Ebet that was assisted by Gibson Johnson with 9:14 remaining in the second half.

But Northeast made things interesting down the home stretch of the contest. The Tigers outscored the Bruins 13-1 over a span of nearly four minutes to cut their deficit to single digits once again.

Leroy Buchanan started the stretch for Northeast with a big three-pointer. He and Raheem Sorrell then had back-to-back buckets to bring the Tigers within 65-52 at the 6:26 mark.

Wesley Harris then put an emphatic exclamation point on the run and brought the neutral site crowd to its feet with two consecutive thunderous dunks. Both slams were two-handed and on offensive rebounds as well.

A steal plus lay-in from Buchanan sliced Salt Lake's advantage to 66-58. However, the Tigers could not come any closer to the 13th-seeded Bruins and was eliminated from the competition.

"Obviously continuing to play this late in March is exciting," Wright said. "The players and everybody around us deserves the credit for getting us to this point. The future is bright at Northeast."

The Tigers held a 37-36 scoring edge after the intermission. Northeast also doubled Salt Lake's rebounding totals in the final 20 minutes with a 24-12 margin, including a dominant 12-1 difference on the offensive glass.

"We've been going over boxing out and being more aggressive in the last couple of practices," said Harris. "The first half we didn't do that and the second half we came out, played hard and did what we were supposed to do. That got us back in the game."

The two teams traded the lead seven times and were tied on three other occasions prior to halftime. The Tigers took their inaugural advantage at 4-3 on a Kendarius Smith trey.

A free throw by Harris brought the contest into a stalemate at 11-11 with 14:01 showing on the clock. But the Bruins tallied six straight points to take a lead that they did not surrender for the duration of the matchup.

Salt Lake jumped ahead 41-24 with 1:03 to go before the break on a jumper from Christian Musoko. Kendall Stafford responded with a make from beyond the arc that sent Northeast into the locker room with a 41-27 shortfall.

Buchanan and Harris both had double-doubles to guide the Tigers. Harris had 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds while Buchanan matched that point total plus pulled in 10 boards.

Smith had 11 points while Sorrell notched 10 points to conclude the list of top scorers for Northeast. It was the 28th double-digit performance for Sorrell during his outstanding career.

"This is what we strived and worked for our whole life," Sorrell said. "We put everything into this at every practice with blood and sweat. For us to make it here, it was a big goal and achievement."

It was the eighth appearance all-time for the Tigers at The Tournament. Northeast concludes the campaign with a solid 18-10 record following its NJCAA Region 23 championship and trip to the Sunflower State.